


My Kingdom Come

by fantasyworld



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Implied Relationships, M/M, Moirails With Pails, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Revolution, Trolls are Gods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 08:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 28,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fantasyworld/pseuds/fantasyworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I need you to start preparing for the war. You are the best mediums I know, and I’m not saying that just because we all got the job together. I need you at your best if we want any chance of surviving.” A glance was shared by the other five at the table, and in the course of a second an entire unspoken conversation took place.</p><p>“Where do we start?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

He felt like Charlie Brown, what with the teacher droning on and on like he actually gave a fuck. Sure, it was pretty cool shit that they’d gotten to do in the past year, but that didn’t mean he really wanted to hear the special graduation speech that Hudson had come up with. Oh yeah. That’s right. They were graduating. Not from high school, which kind of sucked. They were still only sixteen, after all. But they were graduating from Medium Academy, as their instructor had called it.  She was really something else when he thought about it. Emry Hudson was only nineteen years old, yet she was teaching himself, John, Rose and Jade as if she knew everything there was to know about being a medium. She stood all confident in her toned build, with her long strawberry-blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail and her green eyes gazing pointedly at Dave every time he yawned in class. She wasn’t full of herself, per se, but it was clear she wanted them to understand that she knew more than they did. Granted, she’d been at it for three years and had taught them some pretty sicknasty stuff, but Dave found it hard to really listen to a lot of it. He’d only bothered with the classes because his bro forced him into it.

“Dave, are you even paying any attention?” Emry asked, her tone sounding _way_ too much like his English Lit teacher. He could hear John chuckling beside him and promptly elbowed the dork in the ribs.

“We’re graduating and it’s a great honor and whatever,” he answered dully. Emry rolled her eyes and rested a hand on her forehead.

“I was _saying_ that you’re all going to have a number of powers that you’ll have to learn with your patron. I’ve told you the basics here, but the specifics are something you need an expert for.” John’s hand shot into the air.

“Can you call up visions at will, since you’re a prophet?” he asked excitedly. It was as if that was the single most important question he had been holding back all year. Emry frowned and crossed her arms. John was staring at her expectantly and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes again.

“Have any of you been paying attention? No, a prophet doesn’t call up visions at will. I have to wait until they come to me.”

“Can you influence your visions?”

“Does someone else want to answer that?”

“Only gods can influence their aspect. And a medium answers to their respective god or goddess,” Rose provided, barely bothering to look up from her book. Dave noticed that Emry hadn’t been too peeved about it and figured it was probably because Rose had long since proven she could answer any question posed to her. Emry often gave her a pass for that.

“That’s right. Dave will receive visions, because his aspect is time, though he won’t be able to influence them in any way. John, your aspect is Breath, otherwise known as Air. Once you figure out how, you’ll be able to ride the wind. You can’t control it; only follow where it takes you.”

“What good is that?” John whined.

“A lot of good, when you’ll be trying to keep up with Tavros. He’s a speedster and you’ll need every advantage you can get to keep up with him.”

“Isn’t he the one in a wheelchair?” Dave remembered that from one of Emry’s lessons on the various gods and goddesses. He was pretty sure Tavros was the one that got metal legs, which Emry verified in her answer to John.

Moments later, a knock came to the door and one of the gods stepped into the room. He was tall and lanky, and he had the same gray skin as all of the gods, so far as Dave knew. He had mismatching red and blue eyes, and two sets of candy corn colored horns. Most other gods only had one set. This one was just an oddball.  Dave remembered seeing him around fairly frequently, especially compared to any of the other gods Emry associated herself with. It was most likely because he was her patron.

“Are the newbs ready?” the god asked with a prominent lisp.

“Not really. Then again, none of us are ever ready when we start out. I’m pretty sure Jake just about shit himself when he met Eridan three years ago.” Dave had met Jade’s older brother once. He wondered what Eridan was like to make the guy so terrified. “I just need to cover one last thing,” Emry finished and the god leaned against the doorframe.

“Make it quick. They’re getting restless.” Emry turned her attention back to her class of four.

“You all need to know one very important thing. None of you are powerless. You were each given your abilities by your respective god or goddess when you were infants. Some of you have tapped into these powers already, and some of you will learn them with your patron. Here is the most important thing I can ever tell you: You are powerful and you will never be helpless. Your patron will look after you and protect you, and you will be necessary to them in ways that you will have to learn on your own. Good luck to all of you. You know your assignments, so go with Sollux and he will introduce you to your patron gods.”

* * *

 

A party of six was gathered around a table at their favorite Italian restaurant that night, many with smiles stretching across their faces. Each member of the party carried with them an aura of confidence that could only come with the knowledge they had as mediums. Their weekly dinner date typically consisted of conversations of college, work, or medium duties, but tonight’s discussion focused entirely on the day’s graduates.

“So how do you think your students will do?” Luke Fowler asked as he slurped up another forkful of pasta. He’d received a notion of ‘say it, don’t spray it’ from Jake English beside him, along with a hearty laugh from the rest of the group. Jake shoved Luke away, smearing some marinara sauce into Luke’s hair, which shared the same color as Emry. Emry looked around at her friends and smiled. Dirk Strider, Roxy Lalonde, Jake English, Jane Crocker, and Luke Fowler had come of age as mediums at the same time, and the six of them had all been close as children because of that. Emry was proud to teach the younger siblings of four of them.

“Better than most of us did at first. I mean, let’s face it, Dirk and I were the only ones with some semblance of a clue on what we were supposed to do. And that’s because Dirk is a fucking genius and I had Sollux teaching me since I was a child.”

“Because your powers activated themselves too soon,” Roxy pointed out. “If he hadn’t come to the rescue, who knows what would have happened. You might’a blown up a school on accident.”

“An academy was a right good idea,” Jake added with a grin. “Give the next line of mediums a chance to learn their lot before being thrown into it like we were.”

“There’s not a whole lot of hands-on training that I could give them, though. They’re still not as prepared as I would have liked them to be.”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine, Emry. After all, you were the best one of us who could have taught them,” Jane offered. “Especially since you’re the one with the extra power.”

“Yeah. The _illegal_ extra power,” Emry muttered. “You still haven’t told Fef or her sister, right?”

“Of course not, but they wouldn’t care. Feferi doesn’t agree with culling anyway.”

“No, but their ancestor does, and she’s the one in charge.”

“Only until Meenah takes over,” Dirk answered.

“Then tell her to get a move on before the Condesce tries to kill me.”

“Sollux wouldn’t let that happen. Not to his precious moirail.”

“Not without a fight. But that doesn’t mean he’d win.”

“I think you’ll be fine, Em,” Luke offered. “And I think those kids will be too. After all, they’re all related to some of the best mediums we know.” He gestured to their friends around the table. Emry couldn’t deny that. Dirk, Roxy, Jane and Jake were truly gifted with their aspects and had been trained well by their patrons.

“Why did the other gods choose our siblings anyway?” Roxy asked.

“Maybe they saw how awesome you guys are and decided they wanted the closest thing they could get.”

“Fate deemed them the most fit to be the next line of mediums,” Emry answered, earning meaningful gazes from her friends.

“You wouldn’t have had anything to do with that, would you? You are a meister. And of Fate, no less,” Dirk inquired, his eyes going sharp behind his shades.

“If I did, it was unintentional and I was a child. When I was a kid, I wanted a family of people like me. Soon after, I met you guys. If the universe took me literally on the ‘family’ bit, I don’t know.”

“So you might be the reason our younger siblings got sucked into all of this? We don’t exactly live easy lives, Emry.”

“You think I don’t know that? I don’t know if I’m the cause, but at least this way they understand and can fight for themselves.”

“They should have had a choice in the matter.”

“That’s not how fate works, Dirk. You know that.”

“If Dave gets hurt-”

“You’ll rip my soul out with a gods-damned katana. I know. I can tell you right now that he will live through the greatest war we will ever see.” This only earned her more stares. Good, Emry thought. They needed to be scared. They needed to start preparing for what she’d seen in her visions.

“What war?” Luke asked hesitantly.

“It won’t be for a few more years. I’ve been trying to prevent it, or at least minimize it, but so far no good. This thing is going to be massive and a lot of people, and gods, will die,” Emry explained.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Sollux and I have been trying, but we can’t even see the cause of it all. All I can really do right now is try to minimize the deaths of our friends.”

“What’s the current death toll?” Dirk asked.

“With the changes I’ve already made? Fifteen. I’m working on saving more.”

“That’s almost half the people we know that could be involved. Us, our family, our patrons, and their siblings. You’re telling me that fifteen of those thirty-six are going to die?”

“Which is why I’m trying to fix it. I’ve been working with Karkat on this as well, to try to prevent some of the deaths. It’s harder than you think, considering so many are willing to take a bullet for each other. Other than you guys, Karkat and Sollux are the only ones I’ve told about this. Them so we can try to keep it from destroying everything, and you because I need you to start preparing for the war. You are the best mediums I know, and I’m not saying that just because we all got the job together. I need you at your best if we want any chance of surviving.” A glance was shared by the other five at the table, and in the course of a second an entire unspoken conversation took place.

“Where do we start?” Jane asked, her tone set into one of determination. Emry smiled thankfully. They only had three years before it all came to a head, and they would need all the help they could get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this universe, the relationship between a god and his/her medium is called a moiraillegiance and is akin to what it is in troll culture in the original webcomic. Other troll romance exists in this fic, though it will not be heavily involved, and moiraillegiance does not exist between two gods.
> 
> All titles are taken from lyrics of songs. In the comments, I will be listing the songs the chapter titles come from.
> 
> Story title from "Demons" by Imagine Dragons  
> Chapter title from "Good Riddance" by Green Day


	2. The Time Is Near

_Three years later…_

There was a large gathering within the home of Erik Hudson, medium to the God of Death, Karkat Vantas. The twenty-five-year-old stood before a group of gods and mediums alike, ready to begin preparations for the oncoming war. Emry had since informed them all of the impending doom to come and they had gathered a force of twenty-four gods and twelve mediums. In his living room, Erik found himself staring at eleven gods and ten mediums. The elder siblings of the gods he knew had been unable to attend, due to the fact that they were necessary for surveillance in the god realm, Alternia. As it was, the party was missing Sollux Captor—God of Fate, and Emry. Odd that the ringleader of this operation was missing from their first meeting, but Erik didn’t dwell on it much. He had much to do and couldn’t be concerning himself with his sister’s antics. Knowing her, she’d probably lost track of time with her visions.

“I know you all know why we’re gathered here this evening,” he began. “Emry told us all around three years ago that there would be a war with the Condesce coming, and from what I can tell, that war will be soon upon us. I can sense the high death toll, and I’m not going to kid any of you. Some of us are going to die. But whatever Emry and Sollux saw in their visions that caused this coming war must have been important to all of us. It must be something we all think is worth fighting for. So I’m going to cut to the chase and tell you all that we’re still not ready. Not by a long shot. Something this year is going to trigger the war, and we don’t have much more time to prepare.”

Erik could hear mumblings from the group in his home, mostly concerning fear and how they could possibly fight the Condesce with all of her forces. Much to his surprise, none of the humans in the room, himself included, looked frightened in the least. All the concern came from their patrons. Without warning, the front door swung open and Erik was pretty sure the knob put a hole in his wall, given how forcefully it had been shoved. Standing in the doorway, breathless and full of both ire and terror, was Sollux Captor.

“Where the fuck is Emry?” the god demanded. His eyes were glowing with energy and it was clear he was searching for her various fates.

“She’s missing?” Karkat asked as Erik tensed. He’d always feared the worst would happen to his younger sister upon discovering she was a meister. Now he blamed himself for not going to look for her before the meeting. How could he have assumed she’d been absent for any other reason?

“Did her fate change?” John asked cautiously. For the first time, all the mediums in the room carried expressions of fear. It was as if it had all become suddenly real for them. No, Karkat thought as he looked at each face. They weren’t fearful for themselves, but for Emry. She’d been best friends, and even close as family, to all of them. Karkat looked to his own best friend in the doorway, trembling with unspent energy.

“I keep finding her dead, strung up like some fucking show,” Sollux growled and silence fell over those in the room that knew what Emry was. A dead meister on display would be exactly what the Condesce would do to deter any others from being created.

“Last time I saw her was when we all went out for dinner three nights ago, like we always do,” Roxy offered shakily.

“I walked her home and made sure she got in her apartment, since you weren’t there,” Dirk added, speaking directly to Sollux. “There wasn’t anyone in the apartment by the time I left.”

“Is that the last time anyone saw her?” Sollux asked desperately.

“Where’ve you been?” Erik’s tone was accusing, though no one could really blame him. A few of the humans were wondering the same thing.

“Dealing with her Imperious Bitchiness for the past fucking week. I told her to crash with someone while I was away. She told me she was staying with you.”

“I haven’t heard from her since we visited our parents last week for lunch. Our jobs haven’t overlapped lately.” 

“Then we need to start looking for her,” Karkat ordered, turning abruptly to the gathered humans and gods. He couldn’t have asked for a more perfect group of people in this moment. Vriska could change Emry’s luck for the better and give her a chance at living through whatever it was she was going through, while Rose could use her visions of knowledge to figure out just where on Earth or Alternia the missing medium was. Tavros was fast. Once they found her, he could get her out in a heartbeat if they needed to, which they most certainly would. Karkat hadn’t received Emry’s name in his list of deaths, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t appear at any moment. He would have to watch carefully, and keep Erik on the watch as well, to ensure nothing happened to the woman. Fuck, she was only twenty-one. She was too young to die.

* * *

 In another world, the Condesce stared coldly at the human female chained to the wall before her. The girl had been roughed up a little in transport, but that wasn’t of any concern. What the Condesce really wanted was for her to be dead. But not yet. She had to make a show of it. Teach all those _wigglers_ who was in charge and what happened when they disobeyed her. People got hurt. People they cared about. It would be just like that Signless god so long ago. All that remained of his rebellion was a chained Goddess of Motherhood, a broken Goddess of the Hunt, and her precious Helmsman. He was ever loyal to her, now that she’d broken him of everything he’d ever held dear. The human was awakening and the Condesce found herself grinning cruelly.

“Did you reely think you could hide from me forever?” she asked icily. The human stared at her with fear in her eyes. Good.

“I don’t know what you mean, Your Highness. Have I done something wrong?” Now the Condesce frowned and rested her hands on her hips.

“Don’t try to toy with me, gill. You’ve broken our most sacred law just by existing.” The fearful face disappeared and was quickly replaced by a scowl.

“I’ve broken no laws of any consequence. So I’m a little closer to my patron than you’d find in a typical moiraillegiance. Even your ideal of gods only having relations within their class holds little weight when you consider the number of godly relationships that break that rule. Even you disregard it for your vacillating relationship with the Psiioniic.” Her Imperious Condescension frowned deeply and gave a single glance to her Helmsman, situated a short distance away from her prisoner. Without a word, he sent a stream of psionic power to electrocute the human.

“Be careful, or I’ll have my Helsman kill you now.”

“Can’t even do your own dirty work,” she spat. This time, the Condesce slapped her across the face. She was sure she heard something crack, though not in the neck region. She needed the girl alive for a while longer. She watched as the human spat blood and cringed, likely due to the fractures that now lined her cheekbone. “Why don’t you just kill me now?”

“Because for the time being, you are useful to me. You’re going to give me your visions and do with them whatever I say.” 

“Good luck with that.” The Condesce smirked wickedly and turned to leave the girl hanging by her chains, but not before giving one last glance to her Helmsman. The sound of the human’s screams echoed after her down the hall.

* * *

Sollux scanned through every possible outcome he could find concerning Emry’s life. Each fate was more gruesome than the last and he found himself struggling to remain sane through it all. The most recent image called up Emry bleeding and broken while suspended in the air from various wires and hooks, courtesy of the Grand Highblood himself. The next involved her head on a pike. And then another with her being burned alive. The one that struck him to his core was the image of Emry being slaughtered for show in the same manner that the Signless had been. Sollux had only been a wiggler when that happened, but he could still remember it as vividly as yesterday. A hand clapped on his shoulder and jolted him from his thoughts. 

“We’ll find her,” Karkat insisted softly. It was strange hearing such a gentle tone coming from the typically loud and abrasive god. 

“But will we find her, or her corpse?” Sollux retorted bitterly, forcing back tears as he thought of the last image he’d seen. He couldn’t bear to see Emry slaughtered just so the Condesce could prove a point. If anyone should be punished, it should be him. He was the one who broke the law and made her a meister. She’d never asked for this. 

“No matter what my ancestor does, I can undo it,” Feferi offered reassuringly. FF had always been a good friend to Sollux, and he’d even considered a matespritship with her once upon a time. 

“Do me a favor and have Terezi get in contact with her hatchmate. Latula’s aspect of Endurance will probably come in handy for Emry right now,” Karkat instructed, to which Feferi simply nodded and moved on to her task. Karkat turned his attention back to Sollux, who looked like he was going to start falling apart at any minute. 

“I can’t lose her, KK,” the God of Fate murmured shakily, his eyes fixed on the carpet of Erik’s living room floor. “I’ve been with her since she was a kid. I was supposed to protect her.” 

“She’ll be fine.” 

“And if she isn’t?” Karkat was silent for a moment, taking in the sight of their gathered team all working together to find and rescue Emry. It was amazing what a single common goal did to people. Normally Terezi was loathe to work with anyone with the rage aspect, but she was conversing with Lucy Fowler in the corner, likely in ways to attack the minds of those involved with Emry’s capture. Tavros and John were ready to leave at a moment’s notice, while Vriska and Rose were situated in a quiet corner. They hadn’t moved since Karkat had first ordered them to start their respective tasks. 

“Then we’ll make sure the Condesce pays for every mark on her body.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "ABC Cafe/Red and Black" from Les Miserables


	3. Rescue Me

Only the sound of wheezing could be heard from the chamber Emry had been locked in with the Psiioniic. The God of Energy had long since been immobilized by the Condesce’s wires that riddled his body and attached him to her palace. Emry had heard that he’d once been an ally to The Signless long ago, when Sollux had been young. Sollux had told her stories of his childhood, typically in as vivid detail as he could remember them. He’d always been uncharacteristically vague about the long-ago rebellion. Emry wondered if it was because he feared he would share the same fate as the Psiioniic. It was entirely possible, especially since he’d broken the law to make Emry a meister in the first place.

“Why do you obey her?” she asked, though she knew she wouldn’t receive an answer. The Psiioniic hadn’t spoken to her at all in the three days she’d been held captive and beaten for the Condesce’s enjoyment. Or had it been four days? Emry was pretty sure she’d blacked out at one point for an indeterminate amount of time, so she could have missed a day.

“She killed your best friend. You should hate her.” A buzz of electricity hovered over her skin, but didn’t cause her pain. It didn’t even feel like a threat. She wondered if the Psiioniic agreed with her.

“You do hate her, don’t you?” That hum of energy continued to flow over her. “Is she your kismisis?” This time the energy was sharp, like a pinch to her skin. Emry took that as meaning the Psiioniic didn’t like that idea.

“Okay. So it’s not a romantic hate. Got that. Then why do you obey her?” There was nothing but the sounds of their breathing, each an effort, for a long while. Emry shifted her arms to relieve some of the pressure on her cracked ribs, but it did little good. The Psiioniic never moved, but there was an obvious expression of contemplation in his eyes.

  
“Fear,” he rasped after a long while, and it sounded like it had been his first time speaking in years. Emry realized it might have been.

“You’re afraid she’ll kill you?” she asked, only to receive that sharp shock once again. She thought for a while longer, wondering what the Psiioniic could possibly fear of the Condesce if it wasn’t death. More silence filled the room and Emry watched as sadness filled the eyes of the Psiioniic, faint ochre tears emerging for what must have been the first time in hundreds of years.

“You’re afraid she’ll bring your friends more pain.” This time, the Psiioniic nodded.

* * *

“I found her!” Rose exclaimed suddenly, drawing the full attention of every human and god in the room. A week had passed since Emry was first discovered missing, and while many came and went as they pleased, they would still all meet back in Erik’s living room at the end of each day. Rose hadn’t left her corner of the room, only pausing to eat and sleep when necessary. Kanaya never left her side, making sure she was well provided for while she worked. The dark circles under Rose’s eyes were noticeable, but nobody commented throughout the week. They knew she would find Emry; it was only a matter of time.

“Where is she?” Sollux asked as he pushed his way through the crowd that had already gathered around Rose.

“She’s on Alternia. The Condesce-” Before she could finish speaking, a loud dinging rang from the pockets of every god in the room. They’d all received a mass media stream to their communication devices. When Sollux opened his message, his stomach lurched. The humans gathered around their patrons to view the screens, only to stare in horror at what they saw.

Chained to a pillar of rock was Emry. Her body was bloody and bruised, and she’d been stripped down to little more than what remained of her shorts and the tank top she’d been wearing the last time anyone saw her. Blood stained her clothing and hair, which had been chopped short. A close-up image quickly revealed that her hair had actually been ripped out in handfuls. The manacles holding Emry to the pillar were red hot and likely leaving third degree burns on her wrists.

“Why the fuck would you do that to someone?” Dave asked incredulously, a grimace on his face.

“It’s a message,” Karkat answered. “Tavros, John. What the fuck are you waiting for?” Before he could finish his demand, the god and medium of Air were out the door with little more than a rush of wind behind them.

“Attention Alternia,” the Condesce announced, her voice echoing in stereo through each of the communication devices. “It’s time I reminded you all, once again, what happens when you don’t obey my every command.”

“Can they get there in time?” Jade asked fearfully, her patron wrapping an arm around her to soothe her.

“Here you will see a meister, created illegally by a young god who thought he could hide her from me. And soon, you will see her burn, just like that worthless little rebel. This will happen to every meister I find, without fail.”

Roxy felt herself trembling as she stared at the communicator in Equius’ hand, fearing what was about to happen to Emry. They all watched in horror as piles of wood were thrown around Emry’s feet and it became clear the Condesce intended to burn her alive. Emry lifted her head to stare directly into the camera recording her and they were all amazed by how defiant she looked, even behind her swollen eyes. Another close-up on her face allowed them to read her lips as she told the Condesce to kiss her ass. A flaming arrow was loosed into the pile of lumber, and the fire crackled to life in an instant.

“Where the hell are they?” Dirk demanded, his cool faltering as he reached for Nepeta’s communication device.

In the final seconds before the flames could lick at Emry’s legs, a blur of blue and gray flashed across the screen and the meister was suddenly gone from the pillar. A roar of victory resounded among those gathered in Erik’s living room as a wave of relief washed over them all. Nobody could even bring themselves to watch the Condesce’s meltdown at the sight of the empty pillar. Another minute passed before Tavros and John reentered the house with Emry in John’s arms. She’d lost consciousness in transit, but all Erik could think was that his little sister was alive and he wasn’t going to have to have that horrid conversation with his parents after all. Sollux was the first to step forward and he carefully took Emry from John’s arms with a strange expression on his face. He appeared to be simultaneously falling apart and putting himself back together. Erik led him to the guest room to rest Emry on a bed for what must have been the first time in a week.

“Is she alright?” Luke asked cautiously, whispering to John. He and Emry had been best friends since childhood, having lived across the street from each other when they were young. John looked uncertain, which didn’t bode well for Luke’s hopes.

“She’ll be fine,” Jake answered certainly. “She’s a strong old girl.”

Sollux laid Emry onto the bed gently, careful not to jostle her for fear of worsening her injuries. He’d completely left Erik and all of his friends behind him, with his mind only focused on Emry. Looking at her frail form, he asked himself how he could have ever left her alone like he did. He should have been with her that night, to make sure she wouldn’t be taken. He knew the war was coming. Sollux felt he should have figured it would be about Emry.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“You gonna be okay?” Karkat asked from the doorway. Sollux hadn’t even noticed his presence until he’d spoken.

“Only if she is.”

“So what now? How are we going to keep this from happening again? Because you and I both know she won't live through another encounter like this. Fuck’s sake, Sollux, if Tavros and Egbert were a second slower, she might be dead.”

“I don’t know,” Sollux admitted after a moment. “I don’t know how to protect her. And it scares the shit out of me.” Erik now appeared in the doorway and pushed past Karkat to enter the room. Sollux hissed in warning, his protective nature over Emry overcoming all reason.

“Shut the fuck up, Captor. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still partially your fault that she’s in this condition. She may be your moirail, but she’s always been my baby sister,” Erik answered harshly as he took a seat on the opposite side of the bed. He took her hand in his and held it carefully. The burns on her wrists were blistering horribly and Erik was pretty sure they almost cut down to the bone in some places. Gods, it was a wonder she was alive at all.

“We all want to keep her safe, Erik,” Karkat offered.

“That’s not good enough. Wanting something isn’t doing it.”

“Then what do you propose we do?”

“Kill the Condesce.” Karkat sputtered for a moment.

“Are you shithive maggots? What you’re saying is treason and if the wrong person heard you-” Karkat stopped when Erik looked up pointedly from his sister. Where his pupils should have been now resembled the symbol of Death that was branded into Karkat’s left pectoral. It looked like an open wound with three drops of blood dripping from it.

“The Condesce will die,” the medium growled. In the next blink, his eyes had returned to their normal forest green and he was gazing down at Emry once more. Sollux found himself staring at Karkat in disbelief and tore himself away from Emry to pull the God of Death out of the room. He quickly realized how stupid a move that was because he now had an audience, but he’d lost all reason to give a fuck anymore.

“You made a meister?” he asked incredulously. “You? The one who’s always afraid of being culled? You broke the law first?”

“We all did,” Karkat snapped. “We all went through with that stupid pact we made as wigglers.”

“Even ED?”

“Yes, even me,” the god in question answered haughtily.

“All of us are meisters,” Dave admitted from his place on the couch. “But none of us use are powers much so the Condesce won’t find out. We never even told each other until after Emry disappeared.”

“But you knew she was,” Sollux murmured.

“Because she flaunted it. We could see her using her powers often, even when we were kids,” Dirk answered. “If you ask me, I think she knew all along. How couldn’t she? She probably knew the war would be about meisters and made sure she was the one the Condesce saw first.”

“But why would she do that? My ancestor could have easily culled her,” Feferi asked.

“To protect the rest of us,” Roxy murmured, speaking the though on every human’s mind. “That’s who she is. She’d give her own life if it meant keeping the rest of us safe.”

“Well, she nearly _did_ die for us. I thought she was going to on the way back. And now the Condesce knows about her. She won’t stop until Emry is dead,” John pointed out.

“But she doesn’t know about the rest of us. I say we give the fish bitch something to fear,” Dave insisted.

“We’ll work on that once we know Emry is okay. Feferi, can you work on healing her?” Karkat asked. Without a word, the Goddess of Life entered the room with Emry and Erik and got to work. It would take a lot of energy and quite a bit of time to undo all that the Condesce had done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Rescue Me (How the Story Ends)" by Kerrie Roberts


	4. They Still Say I'm a Dreamer

Dirk sat with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the rest of their merry band of misfit gods and meisters. It was suicidal to try to fight the Condesce, considering how much power she had and how many other gods she had at her beckon call. But where the war was distant before, it was suddenly personal. She’d taken one of their own and threatened them all. Feferi was still healing Emry in the guest room of the house, and they were all exhausted from their previous collaboration. Nobody had slept well, those that slept at all. 

“She’s gonna live, right?” Dave asked his older brother. His voice was low and his tone disinterested, but Dirk recognized the concern behind that Strider swagger. Emry had been the one to teach Dave, John, Jade and Rose, and in the past three years they had all grown close. All the meisters met frequently, whether it was for preparations or just to unwind together. They understood each other, even if they hadn’t told each other about their status. Dirk gave his younger brother a smirk and a gentle shove. 

“Em will be fine,” he answered, though he found himself wondering if he was right. 

Jake sat alone in a corner with his knees drawn to his chest. He could feel Dirk’s gaze falling on him frequently, but their eyes never met. He was too focused on tapping into his powers. Eridan had told him that their control of hope was extraordinarily powerful, and he needed to know just what exactly he was capable of. All Jake had ever known was that he could bring pleasant dreams to people, and while that was cool it wasn’t something he could use in a war. He wanted to believe he could do something useful, or at least something to help Emry now that they had her back. 

“We need to go into hiding,” Kanaya stated matter-of-factly. “The Condesce will stop at nothing to remove Emry, and all of you, from the face of the Earth.” 

“And Alternia is out because she has so many supporters there,” Jane murmured. 

“Is there anything we can do?” Jade asked hopefully. Jake frowned and wondered if maybe she should have had his aspect. She always seemed so much more willing to believe the best in any situation. He wanted to hope for the best, but all he’d ever been taught was to prepare for the worst. That was all Eridan had ever taught him in all the time they’d been working together. 

“We can’t go anywhere until Emry is in better condition,” Kanaya answered somberly. 

Jake looked to the carpet and tears stung his eyes. Emry had saved his life once, when they were still teenagers, when a semi truck had come barreling down the street he was crossing. Apparently a group of bank robbers had stolen the truck and were using it to escape the police. If Emry hadn’t changed Jake’s fate at the last second, he would have been hit and killed in an instant. Instead, the driver panicked and turned the wheel too quickly, causing the semi to flip onto its side. If it hadn’t been for Emry, Jake would have died at the ripe old age of fifteen years old, and now he felt utterly useless for being unable to help her. More than anything, Jake wished Emry could be miraculously healed and that he could finally do something, _anything_ , to repay her for saving his life all those years ago. 

Jake figured he must have dozed off in his musings, because he found himself awakening to the sounds of yelling from the other rebellion members. The most prominent, of course, was Karkat as he asked what the ever-loving fuck was wrong with whomever he was speaking to. Or screaming at. That was more accurate. As Jake lifted himself from the floor, he found Dirk kneeling beside him with the Strider equivalent of concern on his face. 

“What’s going on, old chap?” Jake asked as he tried to see past the many people who were now standing. 

“You passed out,” Dirk answered tersely, his eyes now shifting toward the opposite side of the living room. Jake followed his gaze, but couldn’t see much more than the crowd that had gathered. 

“Quit your fussing,” a voice suddenly said, carrying a tone of authority that Jake hadn’t expected to hear for at least another week. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the wave of dizziness that came from the sudden movement, and was finally able to see that Emry was standing and had left her recovery bed. She was leaning heavily on Sollux, who bore a striking resemblance to a mother hen in that moment. A hand clapped down on Jake’s shoulder and shoved him into the nearest chair as a handkerchief was presented to him by Dirk. 

“Your nose is bleeding,” he stated in lieu of an explanation and Jake merely thanked him as he stared at Emry between the gaps in the crowd. From where he was sitting, he could see the pallor of Erik’s skin, likely because he’d been so worried about his sister in her previous condition. It was nothing short of a miracle she was awake, let alone standing. Erik and Sollux guided her to the couch and seated themselves on either side of her, as if to keep her well supported. In fact, Jake realized, that may have been the case. Emry’s gaze locked with Jake’s and she gave him a smile. 

“I owe you, English,” she whispered. Jake looked over her wounds and saw that while many of them had healed, she had terrible scarring all over her body. The most noticeable of all were the patches of new skin that seemed to have recently regrown around her wrists. It was clear that her burns had been severe, and Jake wondered if they would have any affect on her ability to fight as time went on. Beyond that, her body was littered with numerous scars from cuts and burns, as well as one that stretched from her chin all the way up to her left eyebrow. The wound had been covered by what remained of her hair when they’d seen her on the broadcast. Emry must have cut her hair sometime between awakening and now, because it now only reached just past her chin in most places. 

“You should be resting,” Feferi insisted from somewhere across the room. “You shouldn’t even be awake right now.” 

“And I have Jake to thank for that. Can I take that to mean you’ve all finally come clean about your dirty little secret?” 

“I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about, Em,” Jake answered from behind his handkerchief. 

“You tapped into your powers as a meister. At least, that’s what it looks like. I don’t think anyone else here can heal faster than Feferi.” 

“So you _have_ always known,” Dirk interrupted. 

“Yes. I’ve known since I met all of you that you were meisters.” 

“Not very skilled, unfortunately,” Eridan admitted. “Something like that shouldn’t have knocked Jake unconscious.” 

“That’s nothing that training with you won’t fix. The same goes for the rest of us. The only real problem we have is our lack of time before the Condesce comes back to find me.” 

“It would be best if we had a place to train where she couldn’t find us. Plus you still need more time to heal,” Jade murmured. Her eyes shifted to look worriedly at Jake and he gave her as bright a smile he could muster to ease her nerves. He still felt a tad dizzy from the ordeal. 

“Kanaya is the Goddess of Space. Couldn’t she and Jade make a safe place?” Rose asked, but Emry only shook her head. 

“The reality is that a place safe from the Condesce doesn’t exist. She can see everything,” she answered. 

“Then I believe I may be of some assistance,” Equius stated after a moment. He closed his eyes and appeared to be focusing intently. Erik made a comment about him sweating on the carpet, but it went ignored. Within moments, the living room disappeared and the group of twenty-four found themselves surrounded by darkness. The only light came from a dim spiral path beneath their feet. 

“Where are we?” John asked cautiously. 

“We are in the void. We no longer exist, until I draw us back into the world. Her Imperious Condescension will not be able to find us here because only beings which do not exist can enter.” 

“Color me impressed. The only place in existence that is safe from the Condesce doesn’t exist. Very clever,” Emry complimented with a weak smile. It was clear that her energy was already running low and she would need to sleep again shortly. 

“Will I be able to do that?” Roxy asked excitedly. 

“Your powers won’t be as STRONG as mine, but you will be able to do something similar. You can draw objects out of the void, but not send them to it,” Equius answered. Roxy cheered in response, earning a chuckle from the other gods in the group. Jake’s eyes never left Emry’s now sleeping form as she leaned against Sollux’s shoulder. The God of Fate had one arm wrapped carefully around her as if to protect her from any harm that may come to her. Then again, that was probably exactly what was going through his mind, Jake realized. A god was meant to protect their medium. It only made sense that Sollux would be behaving this way. 

“You doing alright?” Dirk asked quietly. Jake turned to him and nodded slowly. 

“Em and I are finally even,” he answered with a grin, to which Dirk could only roll his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Angel with a Shotgun" by The Cab


	5. Let's Get Down to Business

“Are you even _trying_?” Terezi demanded derisively of her medium, and Luke found himself ducking away from the business end of her cane. “The Condesce could snap your mental barriers in half without any effort!” 

“Because she’s a mental giant!” Luke snapped back. His voice echoed back to him in the emptiness of the void. On the first day, it had unnerved him greatly. By now, everyone had gotten used to it. 

“And you have to be a mental titan. Those barriers will keep you from a human assault, but any god could have a field day with you. Now either make a stronger barrier, or send an attack that will do some damage.” 

Luke stared down his patron goddess and produced the imagery of taking a wrecking ball to the Great Wall of China. He barely put a crack in her defenses. But that crack was just enough for him to slip through and metaphorically put a gun to Terezi’s head. Sneaking into the mind had gotten to be a talent of his in the time since he’d learned of his abilities. As a medium, he was meant to read minds. As a meister, he could control them. He seldom resorted to it, but he knew he could get most people to do whatever he wanted with the threat of mental homicide on the line. 

“You’re going to do what I say, now,” he intoned darkly. 

“Make me.” Luke’s eyes widened in confusion as he stared at Terezi, unsure how to proceed. In the past, psychics had followed his orders with a mere threat. He’d never had to harm anyone. “You’re going to come across gods who have no problem dying for their cause. Your threat will work on the weaker ones, but others will need to either be taken control of, or killed on sight. So, I’ll say it again. _Make me_.”

* * *

 

Elsewhere, the Goddess of Time was busy teaching her moirail how to master his control over his own aspect. As it was, there were three copies of Dave in the immediate area, and Aradia pointed to them individually. 

“That one is the first one that you need to do. Then the one behind Erik’s couch, and the last is the one standing behind you now. You have to learn how to read the temporal disturbance around your clones, because if you go in the wrong order you can create a paradox and the copies of yourself that you skipped will die,” Aradia explained. 

“Does that mean I die?” Dave asked.

“No. Only the paradox clones. Now, I want to you travel back in time, in the right order, and be each of the Daves around us.” 

Dave’s trial and error in the past had taught him how to travel through time. He’d even managed to make very few paradox clones, considering civilians got more than a little freaked out when they saw dead bodies. The real training now was learning how to read temporal fields. The differences between the Daves were subtle, and he would have to be perfect if we wanted to succeed. After the first round, Aradia stopped telling him the order and he had to do it himself. Many paradox clones died in that hour.

* * *

 

“Do you have any idea how frustrating this is?” Emry asked sullenly from where she was seated. 

“You’re still healing,” Sollux answered easily, moving to sit cross-legged in front of her on the ‘floor’ of the void. Emry had been complaining for the past few days about being unable to train with the scythe Sollux had gotten her when she was a teenager. As it was, her muscles and tendons to her wrists hadn’t fully healed and she couldn’t fight with it for longer than a few minutes, and even that was a strain. Emry had put forth the argument that her wrists wouldn’t get any stronger without use, and Feferi had countered with the fact that damaging the newly-formed tendons would leave her completely incapable of fighting. The knowledge still didn’t stop her from complaining about the unfairness of it all. 

“Not the scythe, though that’s still pissing me off. I’m talking about the fates. I’ve been working with you and Karkat for the past three years to save our friends before this shitstorm hit, and I’ve only saved three more people. Just three. In the year prior to me telling my friends, I saved twenty-one!” 

“The more you save, the harder it is to keep the rest of the fates in line. Every life is like a string in a web. They’re all connected and the more you alter those connections, the more unstable the web becomes. You don’t have the power to make it unstable, so you can only alter as many fates as it takes to just barely be stable. The first twenty-one were easy because they weren’t as many and they weren’t as connected. The three you altered recently were more difficult because they were more connected. The remaining twelve are going to be even harder, if not impossible.” 

“Our first casualty is coming soon, Sollux. I can feel it,” Emry whispered, drawing her knees to her chest. Sollux leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“I’ve seen the fates of those who are going to die. It’s sad, but it will have to happen. We don’t know _when_ it will happen, though. There might be time for you to save him.” Emry nodded slowly and closed her eyes, drawing all of her focus on searching her visions for the fates of their allies. She was determined to keep as many alive as possible.

* * *

 

Roxy Lalonde’s form flickered in and out of visibility before Equius, who wore a proud smirk on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched her with a scrutinizing gaze, searching for any flaw in her technique. As it was, her form was perfect and it was simply a matter of making her power stronger. 

“I can’t hold it long,” Roxy complained with a pout as she remained opaque. 

“But you are getting STRONGER,” Equius encouraged. “Keep trying. You will succeed.” Roxy nodded determinedly and refocused herself on drawing her body in and out of the void at will.

* * *

 

“We have to do _something_ ,” Erik growled to his patron god. “He’s out there risking his wings for us, and you mean to tell me that between the two of us, we can’t do a single gods-damned thing?” 

“We don’t get to decide who lives, Erik. That’s not our thing,” Karkat answered tersely. It was clear that he was as pleased with their situation as Erik was. He was watching the events play out as they happened. The God of Flight had been assigned to reconnaissance for them in Alternia while they were training their meisters to be able to fight. He was being pursued, which hadn’t been uncommon thus far, but every moment was a little too close for Karkat’s comfort. Especially when he knew that the god would die soon. Maybe not today, but soon. The threads of his life were wearing thin and it would only be a matter of time before they snapped. 

“Then what are we going to do about him?” Erik demanded, breaking Karkat’s concentration once more. The God of Death stared into his meister’s eyes with a hardened gaze. 

“We’ll fucking avenge him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Disney's Mulan.


	6. Now the Dark Begins to Rise

Silence reigned supreme in the void as twenty-two faces stared somberly at Karkat and Erik. Weeks had passed in the void, though it felt like longer due to the fact that time was of no consequence there. The meisters had grown stronger and more capable of using their abilities as they prepared to face the Condesce and her armies. But nothing could have prepared them for their first casualty. Saddened expressions adorned the faces of every human and god in the void, though none were more devastated than Tavros and Emry. The God of Breath trembled at the thought of his elder hatchmate being brutally murdered for their cause. Emry said nothing, but turned and ran away from the group as quickly as she could. Sollux disappeared after her into the darkness. 

“That can’t be right,” John insisted. Though he had only met Rufioh a handful of times, he knew all the stories that Tavros had told him about the older god. Rufioh had inspired Tavros to be brave on more occasion than one, and John had loved hearing those stories from his patron. He almost felt like he knew Rufioh personally because of them. 

“I’m sorry to say it, Egbert, but it is,” Karkat answered, his usual abrasive tone somewhat subdued for Tavros’ sake. The God of Breath cast his eyes to his metallic feet as he forced back the tears in his eyes. The others offered him their condolences before returning to their training. It wouldn’t be much longer before they would be making their way to Alternia, and while time seemed slow in the void, it did not stop entirely. They needed to ensure they were fully prepared to face the Condesce when the time came.

* * *

Sollux found Emry hiding far away from their illuminated spiral, where the light could barely be detected. It was a wonder the two of them hadn’t gotten themselves hopelessly lost after Emry had run away from the group. She was now sitting with her knees curled up to her chest as she sobbed softly into them. Sollux kneeled beside her and draped an arm over her shoulders. She didn’t bother resisting as he pulled her into his chest so she could cry on him. Sollux had taken to doing this when Emry had been a child, since he’d never been particularly good at comforting people. The best he could do in most circumstances was literally offer a shoulder to cry on. Sollux had lucked out by having a meister for whom that actually fucking worked. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you like this over a fate before, EH,” he began, his tone betraying none of his thoughts. In reality, he was concerned for his meister. She’d handled the fates of others well, as a whole, since she was a child. The last time she’d been this upset by someone’s fated death was when she’d first received her visions. Emry had been able to view the deaths of her closest friends hundreds of times in order to change their fates without so much as batting an eye. So why did Rufioh’s death suddenly bring about this reaction? 

“I was so close!” Emry cried, balling her hand into a fist around the fabric of Sollux’s shirt. “I almost saved him! I just needed another hour and he’d be alive!” 

“You can’t save everyone.” 

“But I could’ve saved him!” Sollux felt his heart clench at her desperation and wished he could have done or said anything that would make her stop crying. Rufioh’s death had been a certain one. Sollux knew that preventing this would have created instability in the fates. There had to be a first casualty in any war, and it had to be Rufioh for this one. The fact pained Sollux because he already knew who the next casualty would be, and how impossible it was to prevent it. He had brought her to the brink of death once before, and now his silence would surely end her. 

“It would have been unstable. You couldn’t have saved him, no matter how much you tried,” Sollux murmured as he rubbed his hand in a slow circle over Emry’s back. He watched as the tension slowly eased from her form, as though she felt some form of relief for not being responsible for Rufioh’s death. In fact, he thought, that was probably exactly what was going through Emry’s mind. She’d been working so hard to save everyone that she was going to take every casualty personally. She would see it as a failure on her part. Knowing it was out of her hands likely helped her cope with the loss. 

They remained in the darkness for hours in silence before Emry was finally ready to return to the group. 

* * *

More time passed in the void, which they could really only equate to about a day on Earth. Dave and Aradia were the only ones who could keep a proper count of their time, though it was more difficult for Dave. His inexperience was not to his favor here. Nor was his temper. In the time since the announcement of Rufioh’s demise, Dave had let his anger fester into nothing short of blind fury behind his emotionless façade. He’d never even met the god, but the casualty struck him to the core. After seeing Emry put on display for her attempted execution, he could only imagine what Her Imperious Condescension had had her troops do to Rufioh. He’d probably been stripped of his wings before death, which Aradia had said was more painful than anything Dave could imagine. How much more pain would they have to experience before the end of this war? Couldn’t they do this faster? With fewer deaths? They’d lost one of their own already, and Dave had been sickened at the sight of Emry after she’d been captured. This war hadn’t even begun and people were already getting hurt. Dave couldn’t stand it. And, as he approached Roxy Lalonde, he intended to do something about it. 

“What’s up, Davey?” the meister of Void asked perkily from where she was seated. Dave wasn’t entirely sure what she had been doing, but some perfectly generic cubes and other strange-looking objects that Dave really couldn’t identify surrounded her. Most of them were partly green. 

“Karkat the Crab wants me to go into town to get more supplies,” he answered smoothly. 

“Already?” Dave shrugged his shoulders. 

“I didn’t bother asking. Didn’t want to deal with another rant.” 

“Why didn’t you ask Equius, like you usually do?” 

“’Cause between you and me, the dude’s kind of weird. He’ll have to bring me back to the void when I’m done, but you can send me out, right?”

“Of course. I can drop you off outside Erik’s house. He’s closest to the store.” Dave gave his thanks and before he knew it, he was off to Earth. The moment his feet his cement, Dave knew he would have to hurry. It wouldn’t be long before the other’s noticed his absence, or the fact that he hadn’t spoken to Karkat since the reveal of Rufioh’s death. He had a job to do, and gods damn him if he wasn’t going to do it. 

* * *

“Has anyone seen Dave?” Aradia asked as she approached what remained of the meisters in the center of the glowing spiral. “I lost sight of him hours ago and can’t seem find him.” 

“He went to go get supplies,” Roxy answered easily. “Equius should have brought him back by now.” 

“What supplies? We don’t need anything.” 

“He said Karkat told him to go pick up some stuff.” An expression of horror crossed Emry’s face and all eyes turned to her. 

“I didn’t think it would happen this soon,” she murmured. 

“Didn’t think _what_ would happen?” Dirk asked darkly. Emry didn’t need to see through his shades to know there was a fire in his eyes. She briefly scanned through her visions to confirm what she already knew. 

“Dave’s been captured.”

Dirk tackled Emry and slammed her against the ground, a feral scowl on his usually impassive face. A number of gods gathered around at the commotion. Sollux hissed protectively and Erik leapt to his feet to defend his sister, but Emry shook her head. She knew Dirk had every reason to be angry with her. 

“You fucking liar!” he roared. 

“I never lied to you, Dirk,” Emry answered calmly. 

“Dave’s been captured. You said he’d live!” 

“And he will. Your brother, Jane’s brother, Jake’s sister, and Roxy’s sister will all live through this war.” 

“The Condesce will kill Dave the first chance she gets!” 

“And she won’t get the chance. I’ve seen how this plays out. Your brother will live.” 

“What’s the current death toll?” Dirk asked harshly. 

“Dirk, I’ve been trying. You know that.” 

“What is it?” 

“Twelve,” Emry answered quietly. “I got it down to twelve.” 

“So twelve of us are going to die.” 

“It’s not my fault!” 

“If you had just hidden your powers like the rest of us, the Condesce would never have found out.” 

“Yes she would! That’s what you don’t understand. She’s always known about us. From the moments we were born. She’s only let us live to toy with us!” Emry yelled, suddenly sounding panicked. “I’ve known she would come after us all ever since I was a little girl. Before I could control my visions, I would see all of our friends die. All thirty-six of us fighting this war. It should say something that I’ve at least saved twenty-four!” 

“Who are the twelve?” Jade asked cautiously. 

“I can’t say.” 

“Can’t or won’t?” Dirk snarled. 

“If I say who lives or dies, beyond what I’ve already done, then more of us will die. I can’t tell you, or else the fates will change and everything I’ve done will be for naught!” Dirk finally released Emry, a scowl still on his lips. He wasn’t pleased with her answer in the least, but he had her word that Dave would live. That was all he cared about for the moment. If Dave didn’t come back, Emry would be paying for it, of that much Dirk was certain. They had been friends since childhood, but family came first for a Strider. Sollux was by Emry’s side the moment Dirk had stepped away, though she brushed off his attempts to help her stand. 

“What do we do now?” Jade asked. It was clear that this ordeal had frightened her, not that anyone could blame her in the least. 

“We need to escalate our plans. Kanaya, contact Porrim and find out if her offer is still open. We’re going to need a new base.” 

It didn’t take long for Kanaya to contact her hatchmate and Equius effortlessly deposited himself and his twenty-two companions in Alternia, the land of the gods. Porrim’s hive had been compromised and therefore unusable as a home base, but Meulin, the Goddess of Love, had a cave in the wilds that was often overlooked. It was there that the rebels would hide until it was time to properly attack the Condesce and her forces. 

“It is a pleasure to finally formally meet you, Emry. I’ve heard great things about you and your cause,” Porrim greeted cordially as the newcomers entered the cave. While the younger gods reunited with their older hatchmates, a shroud of sorrow hovered in the air as Tavros stood alone against the outer wall of the cave. John rested a hand on his patron’s shoulder, though he could not offer any real comfort. 

“I only wish it were under better circumstances. Thank you all for helping us. We’re going to need every bit we can get.” 

“Which is why I’ve been enlisting supporters in the underground of Alternia. There are many who wish to see the Condesce stripped of her power.” Emry opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped when she heard Damara, Aradia’s hatchmate, shout. All eyes turned to the mouth of the cave to see Aradia running off into the distance. Sollux started to run after her, but Emry grabbed his wrist to hold him back. 

“Let her go,” she murmured sadly. “You know how this has to happen.” Sollux stared after Aradia’s fleeing form with tears forming behind his glasses. Knowing hadn’t made the reality any easier, and now his dear friend would suffer while he stood idly by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin


	7. Come Marching Home

“You’ll be fine, Dave. I promise,” Aradia whispered as she worked the shackles off of his ankles. She accelerated the aging process of them so they would rust and crumble. She’d arrived at Dave’s side an hour before she originally arrived on Alternia with their friends thanks to time travel. When she’d initially arrived in the cell, she encountered the very sight that guards would be seeing within the next couple of hours. Behind her, two Subjuggalators stood frozen in time on their way to execute her meister. 

“How’d you find me?” Dave asked, his voice wavering from both fear and exhaustion. Though as far as Dave’s timeline was concerned he hadn’t been in Alternia long, it was clear that his capture had strained him greatly. Aradia gave him a comforting smile. 

“A Strider is too cool to not be found. You shouldn’t have gone off on your own.” 

“You can lecture me when we get back to the void.” 

“We’re not going to the void. You need to run out of here and follow the remains of my temporal fields to get to Meulin’s cave. The others will be waiting there in an hour.” 

“What about you?” 

“I’ll be right behind you. I’m going to take care of these Subjuggalators first. Now go!” she urged and Dave sprinted out of his cell. Once he was far enough away, Aradia unfroze the highbloods and they turned their complete attention to her. “You’ll never harm another innocent soul again.” 

Later, guards would find the bludgeoned corpse of the Goddess of Time, as well as the dust that remained of the two highbloods who had ended her life.

* * *

Only minutes after Aradia disappeared from sight, the group of rebels heard a rustling from the nearby foliage. Weapons were drawn, ready to defend themselves, when Dave stumbled into the clearing. He looked exhausted and sported minor bruises around his face and arms, but was otherwise unharmed. Dirk immediately lowered his katana as Jade and John rushed to Dave’s side to inspect him for injuries. They chattered endlessly about how worried they had been, asking how he’d managed to get out and where he’d been. They helped him limp his way into the cave and, after Meulin had hidden the entrance from outsiders, Emry moved to stand by Dirk with a somber expression on her features. 

“I hope you’re prepared for what comes next,” she murmured as Feferi was healing the younger Strider. Karkat approached the pair, his arms crossed and a fire in his eyes. 

“I take it you know,” he stated, directing his voice to Emry. She nodded somberly, wishing the outcome could have been different. “When should I tell him, and everyone else?” 

“Sooner rather than later.” 

“Aradia’s dead, isn’t she?” Dirk interjected, though his tone did not sound questioning. 

“She died an hour before we got here. Her time travel shit really fucked with my reading of it. Erik couldn’t make sense of it at first, either.” Dirk said nothing more, but walked away from Karkat and Emry so he could take a seat beside his brother. Emry knew the ensuing conversation would not be a pleasant one, and she was proven correct when Dave’s head jerked up and he stared with wide eyes behind his cracked shades at his brother. 

“What do you mean she’s dead?” he demanded loudly, his voice breaking on unshed tears. “She was right behind me. She can’t be dead!” Hushed whispers quickly spread around the cave as they all realized the implications of what Dave had been saying. Damara betrayed no emotion on her face, though she and Aradia had been close in their younger years. They had drifted apart after Damara’s personality shift following her messy breakup with Rufioh. 

“I’m sorry, Dave,” Emry whispered solemnly from where she was standing. His frantic gaze turned to her and it broke her heart to see him so distraught. When she’d been teaching him in her makeshift academy, he’d had a too cool for school attitude that had driven her insane. Now he looked like a broken child. 

“Why didn’t you save her?!” he demanded. 

“Because I made a promise.” The weight of her words hit Dirk like a brick. He’d been so adamant about Dave’s survival that he hadn’t thought about any of the repercussions. But even now, staring at the shivering, horrified form of his younger brother, Dirk couldn’t regret it. His brother had survived. Dave wouldn’t die at nineteen. And Dirk didn’t care if he had to give his own life to keep it that way.

* * *

Lucy Fowler sighed heavily from her seat beside Erik. The two had been childhood friends before they’d discovered their powers and respective fates, and had always been supportive of each other through the years. Lucy could see how watching the deaths of two gods was effecting Erik, especially two he had met personally. She shifted so that she was sitting behind him and began massaging his shoulders, watching as some of the tension eased away. 

“It’ll be okay in the end,” she murmured softly, pressing a kiss to the back of Erik’s neck. 

“You can’t be sure of that, Lucy. You can’t tell who’s going to die,” he answered quietly. “There’s a dark aura around everyone in this cave, because they all have the potential to die in this war. The darker the aura, the more likely and sooner they’ll die.” 

“Have some faith is your little sis. She’s got some real power to her.” 

“She’s one of the darkest.” Lucy’s hands stopped as she let Erik’s words sink in. Her eyes stung with tears and she covered her mouth to suppress the sobs that would soon come. She didn’t want to believe that Emry could die. She’d been almost as close to Emry as Luke was, and couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. 

“You can’t let that happen,” she whispered, her voice breaking. 

“I won’t, if it’s within my power. You can’t tell anyone what I’m seeing. The burden is mine and Karkat’s to bear.” Lucy wrapped her arms around Erik’s chest and rested her head on his shoulder. 

“Not alone.”

* * *

“What do you propose our next course of action should be?” Porrim inquired of Karkat as a small gathering of gods sat around the small fire that provided light and warmth in the cave. The God of Death shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair. In all honesty, he had no idea what they should have been doing next. Their plan had been to come to Alternia after another month, when the meisters were fully trained with their abilities and could actually stand a fighting chance. As it was, he didn’t even know if anyone was going to survive at all. The dark auras around them weren’t helping matters. 

“Fuck if I know,” he muttered. “I don’t even know if our plan is still valid. We might all end up dead if we try to go forward from here. But we couldn’t just stay in the void and wait for the meisters to get restless like Dave did today.” 

“The plan is still fine,” Sollux answered. “It was meant to happen this way.” 

“You mean Aradia was meant to die,” Meenah retorted harshly. The Goddess of Rebirth had never been one to hold her tongue, particularly when she was unhappy with any turn of events. She’d been picking stray grass from her long braids, muttering about how disgusting the forest was, prior to speaking up. 

“It was either going to be her or Dave. There had to be a choice.” 

“Then why save the meister instead of the goddess? I thought you two were tight.” Meenah’s tone was now accusing and Sollux felt another wave of guilt pass over him, weighing him down further. He’d never wanted to see AA harmed. In fact, that had been the farthest from any outcome he could have desired. But when Dave had run off, Aradia’s original course of action had been to die for him. Sollux and Emry _could_ have changed this, but Aradia would have surely known. And she would have resented them both for it. Beyond that, Emry had sworn to keep Dave alive for Dirk, and they both knew the elder Strider would make good on his promise to remove Emry’s soul if anything had happened to his brother. 

“It was what AA wanted.” 

“Don’t give him so much shit, Meenah,” Latula Pyrope stated as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Dude’s been through enough of it already.” 

“And there’s going to a metric fuckton more if we don’t get into action fast,” Karkat interrupted. “Emry had wanted us to gather a following so we could storm the palace. I can only assume we have less than ten gods on our side.” 

“Just about. And all lowbloods. None of the highbloods outside of our group want to defy Her Imperious Condescension. No idea if it’s out of fear or loyalty, though.” 

“Latula, much as I am loathe to contradict you, I would like to point out that your use of slurs related to blood caste may be triggering to some and should-” 

“Shove it up your ass, Kankri,” Karkat snapped at his elder hatchmate, the God of Suffering. Karkat had always thought his hatchmate’s title was fitting, because everyone who ever had to deal with him always suffered as a result. Kanrki appeared to be deeply offended by Karkat’s words, but he was stopped from going into another sermon on triggers by Porrim. 

“The point is,” she said, “that we don’t have the army we would have liked. Many are afraid of the Condesce and don’t wish to invoke her wrath.” 

“Can’t say I blame them, but something needs to change. And it, unfortunately, has to start with us.” 

“We need to gather more followers.” 

“More people to throw away their lives for a handful a humans they don’t know or care about? You’re not going to find many of those,” Meenah retorted. 

“Then we’ll make them care,” Sollux insisted. “We’ll show them why our meisters are important, and why they should be able to live.” 

“They’ll only care if they think the humans can do something for them. Nobuoy’s going to fight my ancestor without knowing there’s a fighting chance.” 

“Why do you think we’ve been training them?” Karkat asked. 

“You’ve only had them for two weeks.” 

“Two weeks in the void. That may as well have been months for all the training they got. They’re not perfect, but they’re a hell of a lot better than they were.” 

“Then we need to show the other gods that,” Latula insisted. “We can do what your ancestor did hundreds of years ago. We’ll have people meet us in a private gathering, and show them how strong your meisters are.” 

“We don’t have the time or resources to be doing small meetings like that. It took my ancestor years, and even then he still failed.” 

“Then we’ll do one big meeting,” Porrim stated certainly. “It will be more dangerous, but it would be just the thing we need to gather our army. The Condesce will likely try to make a show out of our meisters from that point on. We will have to fight back and instill a sense of rebellion in all who attend.” 

“That’s too dangerous!” Sollux exclaimed. 

“We don’t have many other options, Captor,” Karkat answered. “Porrim’s idea sounds like it will work. We’ve taught our meisters all they can learn from us. It’s time they use what they know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from "Leaves From the Vine" from Avatar: The Last Airbender


	8. It's a Revolution, I Suppose

Jade’s hands trembled nervously as she peered out from beneath her hood. All of the meisters had donned nondescript brown robes to hide their identities while they traveled into the largest city in Alternia. Every god or goddess they could possibly recruit would be gathering in the town square, but that also meant every single one of the Condesce’s troops would be able to attack at a moment’s notice. Jade had never been one to have stage fright by any stretch of the imagination, but she was utterly terrified by the idea of dying on the stage while they were trying to sway the population to their side. A hand took hers and held it tightly, and she looked over to see that Jake had been the one standing beside her. From beneath his hood, he gave her a reassuring smile and Jade felt some of the tension ease out of her form. She gripped his hand tightly, and reached over to take the hand of the person standing beside her. Soon enough, all of the meisters were holding hands in a show of unity. On the stage that Porrim had made of the central statue of a Subjuggalator, Jade could hear the Goddess of Equality calling for the attention of every god and goddess who would lend an ear. Jade gulped silently and hoped nobody would attack outright. Jake’s hand tightened around hers as he whispered to her how everything would be all right. She hoped he wasn’t wrong. 

“My good citizens of Alternia, what do we have to fear?” Porrim asked of the crowd that had gathered. “The answer is staring you down in the form of this statue behind me! For the entirety of our eternal lives, we have felt the crippling fear that comes with being under the reign of Her Imperious Condescension. Her Subjuggalators have filled our nightmares with their horrific, honking laughter! And now she means to make an example out of innocent children, whose only sin is existing!” Now Karkat stepped forward to stand beside Porrim. Abrasive as he was, Karkat had a natural talent for bringing people together, though his hatchmate would deny this fervently at every given opportunity. 

“These humans are not your enemy!” he began. “They hold power, yes, but their powers are no different than ours. The Condesce would have you believe the humans would kill us all, but that’s wrong! She only fears what she cannot control, and she cannot control them with the blind fear that she has trained us to have since hatching!” 

He motioned for Jane to step forward, and she removed her hood as she did so. She gave a smile to the crowd, though her knees were trembling and threatening to give way at any moment. Jane introduced herself and demonstrated her ability to heal when a young wiggler scraped his knee after being pushed down by his friend. The crowd chattered excitedly as more of the meisters stepped forward to display their talents for all to see. Roxy conjured food for the hungry, while Rose directed individuals on the most fortuitous path for their very long lives, and Jade altered the spatial properties of objects to entertain the younger gods. The intention was to charm the gods and goddesses of Alternia, and it seemed to be working. 

“But can your humans fight?” someone asked from the back of the crowd. Nobody was sure whom the question had come from, but Karkat gave a confident grin. This gathering had been going on for nearly an hour with no consequence, and he was certain that they had gained a large number of followers in that time. 

“They can fight anyone who tries to kill them, and they will win,” he boasted. Karkat’s intention had been to give the gods and goddesses surrounding them a reason to support the meisters, by telling them that they could fight for their freedom. His confidence evaporated when a very large purple-blood pushed his way through the crowds, a juggling pin in each hand. He was a Subjuggalator, and it was clear he was out for blood. 

“Let’s test that, my invertibrother.” 

No one could really be certain what happened in the next instant, but nothing short of a raging battlefield erupted in the town square. Many of the gods with wigglers ran away in fear, but the vast number of onlookers who now remained with weapons drawn astounded Karkat. The meisters removed their robes to allow for easier movement and dove into battle without a second thought, their patrons at their sides. Subjuggalators quickly surrounded Nepeta and Dirk, while drones and blue arrows flew through the air around the square. 

“Don’t waste your energy with your katana, Dirk. Go straight for the soul!” Nepeta ordered as she began ripping the souls out of the nearest highbloods. Dirk followed suit, though he could only take on one at a time, and it took far longer for him to remove a soul. He soon found himself surrounded by copies of Dave, all clones from a time loop that were helping fight off the highbloods. 

“Where the fuck did these drones come from?!” Karkat demanded from where he was slicing through adversaries with his sickles. Erik was by his side with a pair of hatchets, placing marks of death on any nearby attackers. Those marks would insure the swift death of any who bore them. 

“The Condesce was watching us. Did you really expect anything less?” Erik retorted. He spared only a glance to find his sister to ensure her safety, only to find her ripping apart drones and blue-bloods of her own with her scythe. The burn scars on her wrists were what had worried Erik the most, knowing they had made her unable to wield her prized weapon for much of their time in the Void. In fact, this was the first time Erik had seen his sister using her scythe since she’d been captured and subsequently retrieved. It concerned him greatly, knowing Emry may not have been at her best and was more vulnerable in this state. Karkat took note of Erik’s lack of attention and quickly followed his gaze to the meister of Fate. 

“Erik, focus!” 

“ _FEF!!!_ ” Eridan’s scream resonated across the town square seconds before he fired wild shots from his rifle at the Subjuggalator who had beaten the Goddess of Life over the head. She now lay motionless on the field, her eyes wide and blood streaming endlessly from where one of her horns had been snapped off her skull. Jane rushed to her patron’s side, only to find that the goddess’ neck had been snapped upon impact and she’d died instantly. 

“It’s okay,” Jane whispered frantically, more to herself than anyone else. “I can revive her. She’ll be okay.” Tears fell from her eyes as she let her energy flow from her hands and into Feferi’s lifeless body. She never even saw the blue-tipped arrow that shot directly into her skull. Jane slumped forward and fell listlessly onto her patron’s corpse, blood seeping from around the wound. 

“Take Meenah and get her out of here!” Vriska ordered, casting her dice to increase their chance of fortuitous escape. “We have to retreat!” 

The next few minutes were filled with nothing short of chaos as the rebels tried to escape the attacks from the highbloods who had come to put an end to them. In the midst of it all, Emry found herself staring face to screen with one of the many spherical drones that had been firing electrical currents throughout the battle. Red and blue energy crackled around the rods that protruded from the drone and Emry was immediately reminded of her fellow prisoner to the Condesce. 

“Psiioniic! Why don’t you fight her? Is this what the Signless would have wanted from you?! To become the mindless slave to the demon who killed him?!” she demanded, screaming at the blank screen. Electrical energy crackled around the drone’s rods. “Fight back! Take your freedom and your fate into your own hands!” 

“Emry!” Sollux shouted as he tackled the meister to the ground, just as the drone discharged its energy in the form of a beam at the spot Emry had been standing seconds prior. “What the hell are you thinking?! We have to go!” 

“But the Psiioniic-” 

“Isn’t on our side. Let’s go!” Sollux hoisted Emry over his shoulder and began sprinting after the rest of their comrades. The following they had accumulated dispersed, though a number of them had been killed by the highbloods that had attacked. Shades of red, yellow, and even a small touch of green, splattered over the town square and marked the site of their battle. It was the true beginning of their revolution. In between the fighting and the scattered bodies, Emry caught sight of the drone that had tried to kill her. Its screen, no longer black and empty, now flashed between two shades of green. They matched the olive and jade colors of blood that flowed through the Leijon and Maryam hatchmates. Emry nodded slowly, her eyes wide as she understood the Psiioniic’s message, and the drone shorted itself out before falling to the ground.

* * *

Eridan punched the wall of the cave with a roar once they had returned to the safety of Meulin’s hideaway. Jake stood away from him, for fear of invoking the god’s wrath as he grieved. Feferi and Eridan had been close friends since they were wigglers, and Jake suspected that Eridan had once had romantic feelings for the goddess. It must have laid him low to witness her brutal murder. His own heart was aching at the memory of Jane being struck down by a single arrow to the skull. Jade was busy comforting John, who hadn’t stopped crying since they escaped the battlefield. The gathering had never meant to grow so violent. They had all intended to run at the first sight of trouble. But everything had happened so quickly that they hadn’t had time to do anything but fight back. And now two more of their friends were dead, as well as some of the gods and goddesses that had stayed to fight by their side. 

“I’m sorry, Eridan,” Karkat offered solemnly. 

“Sorry ain’t gonna bring her back, Kar!” the God of Hope snapped. “Why didn’t you do anything?!” 

“We were all surrounded. I wasn’t anywhere near her when it happened.” 

“But you _knew_!” 

“Knowing wouldn’t have stopped it. If it was her fate to die, then it would have happened regardless of what I would have done.” Eridan’s fury now turned to Sollux, who received a punch to the face. After Sollux hit the ground, he spit out a fang that had been knocked loose by Eridan’s rings. 

“Then why the _fuck_ didn’t _you_ do anything?!” he demanded of the ochre-blood. 

“Because saving either of them would have left the fabric unstable,” Emry murmured sadly. She’d hated having to allow either of them to die, but the loss of Jane hit her especially hard. Emry had wanted to keep all of her friends alive. Allowing Jane to die had been the hardest thing she’d had to do up to this point. 

“What fabric?” 

“The fabric of the universe. Every life is connected in a web. That web becomes a fabric that holds the universe together. The more lives we alter, the more the fabric ripples and, sometimes, tears. Saving either Feferi or Jane would have caused a tear in the fabric that would damage it irreparably.” 

“So you let Jane die,” Dirk stated harshly, his fist clenched at his side. 

“If I had altered her fate, she would have died anyway,” Sollux answered as he stood. “None of you seem to understand how this shit works. If the fabric becomes unstable from a tear that big, the universe fucking implodes. Everyone would die.” Silence fell over the cave as everyone let Sollux’s words sink in and take full effect. Eridan was still obviously distraught by the way events had played out, but he seemed to be coming to a slow understanding of why they had to happen. Rose was the first to break the silence. 

“What’s done is done. We must look forward and focus our strength on defeating the Condesce. Our audience today seemed to be going well, before the Subjuggalators attacked,” she stated matter-of-factly. 

“We need to do something else first,” Emry answered and all eyes turned to her. “We have a powerful ally to make.” 

“What ally?” Sollux asked incredulously. “You haven’t spoken to a single god besides us since we got here.” 

“I’ve made an agreement with your ancestor. And if we do for him what he requires, then we’ll have three powerful allies to support our cause. One of them, the Psiioniic, will be on the inside and can fight from there.” 

“Have you lost your fucking mind, EH? My ancestor works for the Condesce. He tried to kill you on the field today, or have you forgotten?” 

“Because he’s terrified, Sollux. The Condesce has his only living friends held hostage and she can hurt them if he disobeys her. She’s the only person who will give them a fate worse than death.”

“And you propose we rescue his friends?” Rose asked. 

“That’s exactly what I’m proposing. If we can free the Goddesses of Motherhood and the Hunt, we’ll have three powerful gods to help us.” 

“Their last rebellion didn’t go so well,” Latula pointed out. 

“We’re using a different tactic. We’ll be unleashing a wild huntress, a vengeful mother and an enraged God of Energy against the Condesce’s armies. No more peaceful protest. We’re out for blood.” 

“And how do you expect us to find them?” Karkat demanded. “Last I knew, the Dolorosa was being held captive and the Disciple hasn’t been heard from since _my_ ancestor was executed. Like you almost were a few weeks ago.” 

“The Dolorosa is with Dualscar.” 

“Because we _really_ need to be going against the God of Envy.” 

“And a quick scan should locate the Disciple fairly quickly. We have to find them.” 

“Why is this _our_ battle, Emry? Don’t we have enough to fight?” Luke asked quietly from his corner of the cave. His eyes were fixed on John, who had only now managed to rein in his tears. 

“I can’t stand idly by when I know I can free another one of the Condesce’s prisoners. I was left in the same room as the Psiioniic, and I spoke with him. I think he used his voice for the first time in centuries just to tell me he was afraid. If I can’t help him in our cause, then what good am I as a leader of this entire rebellion?” 

“Why not just wait until after we defeat the Condesce?” 

“Because we won’t be able to defeat her without his help.” At this, Karkat merely sighed heavily as he dropped himself onto the log by the campfire. He knew there was no stopping Emry now that she had set her mind to save the Psiioniic, Disciple and Dolorosa. If she believed he was necessary for their victory, and Sollux hadn’t protested, then Karkat had to believe that was true. And he wanted so desperately to defeat the Condesce that he was willing to try anything at this point. 

“Alright, Em. Where do we begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons


	9. Wake Me Up When It's All Over

Sollux ran a hand through his hair as everyone settled in for the night. Their day had been long and excruciating, and he was still nursing a nasty bruise from when Eridan had punched him. He was utterly exhausted as he leaned against the wall of the cave, unable to find sleep while the rest of his companions began to drift off. Most everyone had grouped according to familial ties and relationships. So the Lalondes were bundled together with the Maryams, thanks to Rose and Kanaya’s romantic affair that had begun in the time between Rose’s graduation and the war. John remained close to Tavros as the two of them slept beside each other. Both had lost their elder siblings and Sollux found himself feeling more than a little sorry for them. He had decided to sleep away from Mituna, knowing how his hatchmate often kicked violently in his slumber ever since the accident. Sollux had never found out exactly what had happened, but he knew Mituna had sacrificed the better part of his mind in order to save his friends from some great danger. As it was, Mituna was happy to curl up next to his matesprit, Latula, as Terezi slumbered beside them. Sollux was startled out of his thoughts when he felt a pair of hands rest on either side of his head and begin massaging his temples. 

“You should rest,” Emry whispered. She’d seated herself beside him without him noticing in the least. He _must_ have been distracted. 

“How can I? You’ve planned a suicide mission,” he retorted quietly, so as not to awaken anyone sleeping nearby. 

“We’ll all get through this one. I’m sure of it.” 

“That doesn’t mean it will be successful.” Sollux took hold of Emry’s wrists, startling himself as he felt the scars that still mangled them. He’d forgotten about them after seeing her fight earlier in the day. She’d seemed almost back on par with how she normally fought. With gentle hands, he pressed the inner part of one of her wrists to his lips and kissed it lightly. Emry stared on in silence and did not protest to the action. She’d seen Sollux like this many times before, when a rare moment of tenderness would appear. She didn’t want to refuse him this quiet moment. Sollux carefully pulled Emry closer to himself, until she was sitting across his lap, and held her to his chest. He rested his chin on the top of her head while still holding onto her wrists. 

“I know we’ll rescue them. And your ancestor.” Sollux hummed in thought, though Emry was sure he wasn’t mulling over what she’d just said. He seemed far more interested in examining her wrists and rubbing his thumbs gently over the marred skin. “Sollux?” 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you,” he murmured, pressing another light kiss to the old wound. With Sollux’s hands still wrapped around hers, Emry shifted so she could see him and held his face. Green eyes stared into mismatched red and blue as she made certain he was listening to her this time. 

“It’s not your fault, Sollux. It was meant to happen, and you couldn’t have stopped that. I want you to stop blaming yourself. Do you understand me?” The God of Fate leaned forward and kissed his meister chastely on the lips, only to give her the faintest of smiles when he pulled away. 

“I understand fate more than you do, EH.” His smile had not pulled into a smirk, as the meister normally would have expected. “That won’t stop me from worrying about you. Or caring for you.” Emry glanced away and pulled her hands away from his head. He continued to hold her wrists. 

“We’re moirails, not matesprits.” 

“We could be. Look at Rose and KN. They seem pretty happy.” 

“We’re in the middle of a war, Sollux.” 

“You say that like we haven’t-” 

“Sex is different from a committed relationship, and you know that as well as I do.” Sollux stared at her in silence for a moment, finally relinquishing her wrists. 

“I was serious. Every time.” 

“Sollux, I’m not saying you weren’t. Or that I’m not. But I can’t do that to you, or to myself. I can’t promise you a future when I still don’t really know if there will be one for us to have. What if I fuck up and one of us gets killed? I’ve altered our paths so we live, but if something changes… I can’t do that. Not now.” Now Emry’s patron smiled softly and enveloped her in a tight embrace. She hugged him in return, knowing he understood her point of view. She was telling him that, if they both survived, then she’d be open to pursue a matespritship with him. And that was true. Yet she still felt guilt sit in her stomach like a heavy weight. She remained silent and the pair eventually drifted to sleep where they were sitting, with Sollux’s head resting on top of hers once more. 

Karkat was the first to awaken in the morning, and the only one to see how Sollux and his meister had fallen asleep together. He continued to stand by his belief that the God of Fate was a masochistic fuck for allowing himself to fall for someone who was so certain to die.

* * *

“Why would the Expatriate keep the Disciple with him?” Roxy whispered as she traveled with the small team that was intended to retrieve the wild huntress. 

“He probably pitied her, after he killed her matesprit,” Kanaya responded just as quietly. The team consisted of only Kanaya, Jade, Roxy, Equius, Tavros and John. 

“We sure are lucky that Emry found her with her visions,” Tavros added. Though the impact of losing his hatchmate still hit him hard, he was trying to focus on their mission in the war. He refused to let Rufioh’s death be in vain. 

“Now we will simply have to remove the Disciple from the Expatriate without a hassle. That will prove to be more difficult a feat.” 

“I think that’s why Emry sent us,” Jade answered. “The users of Space and Void, and the fastest people in our group. We’re the best at retrieval. Do you think she’ll have us get the Dolorosa too?” 

“I’m sure she has another group planned for that mission. Let’s focus on ours.” Secluded in the deepest parts of the forest was the cave the Expatriate had hidden himself in after showing mercy to the Disciple thousands of years prior. Few had seen or heard from him since then, and even fewer knew where he was located. It was only thanks to Emry’s visions and directions that the rescue team was now on their way. 

“My ancestor is rumored to have never left this cave,” Equius stated. “I fear sneaking past him will not be a simple task.” 

“Our goal is to make as small a scene as possible,” Kanaya answered simply. “Jade and I will make an opening through which we may enter. Then, you shall transport the Disciple to the void. As soon as we have her, Tavros and John will whisk us away through the wind. If all goes according to plan, the God of Penance will not notice her disappearance until it is too late.”

* * *

Elsewhere, another small team of six was nearing the site of their rescue mission. Eridan, Jake, Cronus, Porrim, Terezi and Luke were within sight of Orphaner Dualscar’s grand home, where he had kept the Dolorosa hostage for thousands of years. Rumors stated that she had once been in the possession of Mindfang, the Goddess of Thievery, but that Dualscar had taken the Dolorosa after a fit of envy that nearly killed the kind goddess. It had likely been orders from the Condesce that had saved the Dolorosa’s life.

“This one’s going to be difficult,” Luke stated, though that fact was obvious to his companions. “Emry said Dualscar will likely put up a fight if he sees us.” 

“When,” Terezi stated simply. “There’s no if. Dualscar’s going to see us. And we will have to fight him.” 

“How do you know?” 

“Because I’m not afraid to scan the mind of our soothsayer. In her visions, we fight to save the Dolorosa. That’s why she sent us, and not the other team. We’re the better fighters.” 

“I’d say Dirk is a pretty excellent fighter,” Jake commented, trying not to sound too sullen at the insinuation that his boyfriend may not have intense physical prowess. 

“But not good for what we need. He has the most difficult ability to master, and he hasn’t yet. It takes him too long to rip out a soul. Besides, we need to be a bit more discreet than that. If the Condesce’s most loyal subordinate loses his soul, there will be more hell to pay.” Luke peered around the corner and into the window that gave them their way into the miniature palace. There were three guards, but they were of no consequence. With a brief mental attack that Terezi had taught him in the void, he knocked all three of the guards unconscious and slid the window open for the rest of the team to enter. 

“My ancestor will be located in a cell somewhere down this hall,” Porrim murmured as they ran. “The problem will be finding her before we are discovered.” 

“Do you remember when in Emry’s vision we meet up with Dualscar?” Luke asked. 

“Not for a while,” Terezi answered, rounding a sharp corner and pressing herself against the wall as she knocked out the guards that stood there. None of them even saw her coming. The blind goddess smirked when she heard them all fall to the floor. Agonizing screams echoed along the violet-painted hallway, sending a chill down the spines of Luke and Jake. 

“S-Sounds like someone’s being tortured,” Jake said shakily. 

“Focus,” Eridan ordered, cocking his rifle as they all ran in the direction the screams had originated from. “Be prepared for anything you might see.” They drew nearer to the source of the screams, and it became painfully obvious to Luke that their objective and the person being tortured were one and the same. He readied himself to unleash a powerful mental attack at a moment’s notice as Eridan’s hatchmate, Cronus, led the way to the torture cell in the back of the palace. 

He kicked in the door to the last room to reveal the most disturbing sight Luke had seen since Emry’s near execution. Hanging from chains that splayed her body vertically was a goddess with the same horn shape and, quite clearly, blood color as Porrim and Kanaya. Her robes were in tatters and it appeared as though she had been beaten nearly every day since her capture. The goddess looked up from the floor, though the simple motion seemed to be difficult for her, and her eyes widened at the sight of her six rescuers. 

“Run,” she rasped. The god before her glanced over his shoulder, the twin scars over his eye shining in the light that poured in from the hallway. 

“An’ just what do we have here?” he inquired darkly as he turned to fully face them. Luke found himself too shocked and terrified to attack, now that his focus had been broken. He couldn’t launch the mental wave that was necessary of him to slow Dualscar down. He felt as though he’d failed, and could only utter a single word. 

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Wake Me Up" by Avicii


	10. I Want to See You be Brave

Cronus had been knocked unconscious in the course of the battle, and Luke was on his last leg. Porrim had managed to break the chains that held the Dolorosa still, but the older goddess was in no condition to be fighting. As it was, Porrim was keeping her ancestor protected from the fighting that took place between Dualscar and those that remained of their group. Luke was constantly flitting in an out of consciousness, largely kept awake by Terezi’s constant mental shocks as he struggled to stay on his feet. Eridan had been hit in the head, resulting in a wound that would scar much like his ancestor’s and Cronus’. Jake and Terezi had managed to retain the least amount of damage, though primarily because they relied more heavily on their long-range attacks. Terezi, in between keeping Luke awake, would send mental shockwaves in an attempt to incapacitate Dualscar, and Jake utilized his pistols whenever he had an opening. The bullets did little damage to the god. 

“Use your power!” Terezi snapped at him as soon as she realized what he was doing. “Human weapons don’t do any real damage unless they’re imbued with power! Didn’t Eridan teach you anything?!” 

“I taught him not to pass out!” Eridan yelled back as he fired another shot at his ancestor. He’d since abandoned his rifle for a wand not unlike those seen in magic shows. It acted as a guiding tool for the powerful beams of energy Eridan was throwing at his ancestor. Jake trembled as he stared up at Orphaner Dualscar, God of Envy. His pistols shook as violently as his hands as he aimed once more and focused his energy on the bullet in the barrel. He didn’t know how many opportunities he would have before the strain knocked him unconscious again. 

A harpoon shot through Luke’s leg, and the meister of Mind screamed out in pain as he crumpled to the ground. Terezi swore under her breath and ran to her meister’s side, ready to defend him to her last breath if need be. Jake couldn’t help but think of how wrong this was. He’d heard Emry talking with Sollux a few nights prior, when they’d thought everyone was asleep. She’d said they would all survive this recovery mission. She’d sounded so certain of herself that Jake hadn’t been fearful when they set out that morning. He had believed that nobody would die. Now, Cronus and Luke were both unconscious. Eridan and Terezi were weak from the fight, and Porrim was fighting to keep Dualscar away from the Dolorosa. And all Jake could think of was that this wasn’t supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to live and bring the Dolorosa back to their cave. They _would_ succeed. He had to believe that. He _did_ believe. That belief steadied his hand as he fired a single shot at Dualscar. The bullet, coated in a brilliant white energy, pierced the god’s skin for the first time and provided enough of a distraction for Terezi to direct a powerful mental wave to knock the older god unconscious. It was by pure luck that Tavros and John arrived seconds later.

* * *

Back at the cave, wounds were tended to from battle as Emry, Sollux and Karkat approached the Dolorosa and Disciple. The Dolorosa had been provided with robes with which to cover herself after her brutal torture. She looked tired, both physically and mentally, as if she had given up on life a long time ago. The Disciple was near feral and her eyes flitted around as though she thought everyone in the cave was going to attack her at any given moment. It was for that reason that Emry, Sollux and Karkat had been sure to allow her enough space to not feel cornered. 

“You’ve only invoked Her Imperious Condescension’s wrath,” the Dolorosa stated hoarsely. She sounded less like the Psiioniic, who hadn’t spoken in hundreds of years, and more like she had been screaming in all that time. 

“I’ve invoked that simply by living,” Emry answered, her tone hard from knowing that fact. “My name is Emry Hudson, and I’m the meister of Fate.” The Dolorosa’s eyes widened slowly as the realization dawned on her. 

“I would never have thought the youngest of us would be so brazen in defying the Empress. Then I must ask why you have rescued the Disciple and myself.” 

“There are a few reasons behind that. The first being obvious in that the Condesce’s treatment of you both is disgusting and needed to end. I’d like to ask that you would both help us in fighting against her with your strength and wisdom. If you don’t we will still keep you safe from her armies. I’ve made an agreement with the Psiioniic that basically amounts to him aiding us so long as the two of you are out of the Condesce’s reach.” 

“He’s still alive?” the Dolorosa asked, her tone full of wonder. “I was led to believe he was dead.” 

“The blue-blood told me you were both dead,” the Disciple stated, speaking for the first time. Emry was relieved to know she hadn’t truly lost herself in her many years of seclusion. 

“She probably didn’t see you as a threat,” Karkat answered. “The Psiioniic could really fight her if he wanted to, so she’s used the both of you as bargaining chips. If he behaved, you both would be spared.” The Dolorosa sneered derisively at his words. 

“Do I appear as though I’ve been spared of any pain?” she asked harshly. Karkat didn’t break eye contact with her. 

“No. You look like you would have rather been taken by me than live this long. And I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you that peace.” 

“I want to take her down,” the Disciple growled, staring directly into Emry’s eyes. “She took my matesprit. I want to kill her with my own claws.” 

“I can give you the opportunity to do so if you agree to fight for us. I can’t guarantee you will survive this war, though. I’ve already altered so many fates that I can’t change another without the universe becoming unstable.” 

“Do I die?” 

“I can’t say.” 

“Then I shall assume I will. And I will fight at your side.” 

“I wish to join your war as well, and wish to hold the heart of the man who pierced my son’s upon his death,” the Dolorosa added, her gaze hardening. Emry nodded slowly, understanding the goddess’ ire. Her son had been taken from her and she wanted revenge, just as the Disciple did. 

“Thank you for your support.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you made that work,” John said that evening as the meisters gathered around the campfire. Emry shrugged her shoulders before taking another bite of the dinner Meulin had caught and prepared for them all. 

“It wouldn’t have if you and Tavros hadn’t gotten to the others when you did,” she answered quietly. 

“Then why didn’t you put them on the Dolorosa team in the first place?” Dirk asked, glancing at the wounds that had been accumulated from that team. 

“Because their speed was first necessary in getting the other team back. Without them, Kanaya’s team would have been too slow and the Expatriate would have killed them. I asked Rose for every possible outcome from every possible combination of teams. The ones I chose were the only ones that came back alive.” 

“So you altered the fates again, even though you said you couldn’t change any more.” 

“No. Because it was their fate to survive so long as I asked Rose for her help. Not every fate is set in stone, and they are often changed by choices people make. If I hadn’t asked Rose, many of us would have died. I chose to ask for help, and we’re all alive because of it.” 

“It was all a matter of luck,” Rose added with a smug smile. 

“And faith,” Emry stated. “Jake, you’re the primary reason your team survived today. If you hadn’t had faith in your abilities, Terezi may not have gotten the opportunity to attack Dualscar the way she needed to in order to buy Tavros and John enough time to get you all out.” 

“You don’t have to exaggerate for my sake, Em,” Jake said shyly as he scratched the back of his head. “It wasn’t that impressive. I just knew you wouldn’t have sent us to our deaths.” Emry stared at him in silence for a moment, blinking frequently as though she were confused. 

“I’ll never understand you, Jake,” she conceded. “How the hell can you have so much faith in others, and so little in yourself? Is that just a thing that comes with the Hope aspect?” Jake shrugged his shoulders in response. 

“I give children good dreams and something to believe in, even after they grow up. That’s nothing special.” Emry sighed heavily, wishing she could make Jake see just how valuable he really was. He’d literally saved her life when he’d used his powers to amplify Feferi’s healing process on her. Jake saw it as repaying a debt, but Emry knew it was extraordinary. She hoped that one day soon he would see his true worth, because he was nothing short of incredible.

* * *

Karkat and Sollux sat alone against the wall of the cave, watching the meisters converse with each other. Without Jane, the group of humans seemed incomplete, and both of them doubted that feeling would leave anytime in the near future. They both had been the only ones to know she was going to die. Though they had both tried their hardest to prevent the deaths of their team members and friends, it was proving to be in vain. No matter what happened, no matter what they did, people they cared for were going to die. Yet there was a glimmer of hope in the fact that Emry had managed to orchestrate the retrieval of two ancient goddesses that hadn’t been seen or heard from in thousands of years. 

“You’ve got one incredible meister,” Karkat told his best friend. Sollux couldn’t help the smug smirk that graced his lips. He and Karkat had always competed with each other since they were wigglers. It was nice to hear the God of Death concede something for once in his miserable life. 

“Yeah, she is,” he answered. “I’ve known that since she was a child.” 

“Because you can see everyone’s fate.” 

“No. I don’t look at hers unless I have to. I just knew. It’s who she is. She was always destined to be something great.” 

“So you’ve seen Emry’s fate at the end of this war.” Karkat hadn’t phrased it as a question. He knew what would happen to Emry. The dark aura around her body told him and Erik all they needed to know. 

“Yeah. By some miracle, she’s going to live through it all.” Now the God of Death stared at his best friend in confusion. Sollux wasn’t paying any attention and didn’t notice the gaze. He was too busy watching his meister converse with her friends and laugh easily for the first time since she’d started fighting this war. Karkat knew better than to say anything about what he saw around Emry. He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone who died, or how soon. But one thing was certain: Sollux wasn’t going to have the happily ever after that he wanted. 

“What do you plan on doing after this is all over?” he asked. He half hoped that forcing Sollux to think about the future might show him the truth. 

“Rebuild after all the shit with the Condesce. I think that’s what we’re all going to be doing. After all, you and I are the only ones who know the outcome of it all and the casualties that we’re going to face. A lot of our friends will have to pick themselves back up after we lose more.” 

“And you?” 

“It blows that AA was killed. I still feel guilty about that. EH has been helping me not feel so bad, though Damara makes it hard. And losing MT is going to be rough. I still don’t know how I’ll handle that one when the time comes.” Karkat nodded, knowing that Sollux’s hatchmate would be among the many in their group to be killed. It was only a matter of time, though he suspected it would be during battle. Mituna was the God of Heroism, so it would only be right for him to go down with a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from "Brave" by Sara Bareilles


	11. They Were Crying When Their Sons Left

This was it. They were finally going to show the Empress what they were made of. Emry was busy giving instructions to their group of rebels, and someone would be assigned to pass the orders onto the small army they had amassed with the stunt that ended Feferi and Jane’s lives. That someone, as Emry just stated, would be Tavros because he was fastest, and he would be the one leading their army into battle. Dirk also suspected it was because Tavros had the fewest methods of attack. At least John could literally turn into the wind, and therefore go so far as the sap the oxygen from their enemies. Tavros was better for messenger and recon, just like his hatchmate had been. Dirk only hoped he wouldn’t end up like Rufioh. Dirk’s gaze passed over each of his friends, knowing that eight more of them were going to die. He had no way of knowing who would, only that the youngest of them would not. That was good, at least, he thought. If nothing else, Jade, John, Rose and Dave would be able to live the rest of their lives. Hopefully in peace. Gods, Dirk hoped it would be peaceful after all this was said and done. He didn’t think he would be able to fight much more after this. 

“Dirk, I want you and Nepeta split up for this. You’ll be more efficient that way,” Emry instructed. “It’ll give us your abilities in a wider area.” 

“Makes sense,” Dirk answered with a nod, his arms crossed over his chest. He listened intently as Emry gave out the rest of the assignments. He wasn’t entirely surprised when she put herself into a team that had the most pair-ups between gods and their meisters. She would be with Sollux, Erik, Karkat, Jake, Rose, Vriska and Terezi as they went straight for the Condesce’s throne room. Dirk noticed the sadness in Emry’s eyes, and could only assume there would be a lot of death on that team. It angered him to think that she would be leading her friends to the slaughter like that. What truly surprised Dirk about the plan was that Emry had amassed a team of eight gods to face the Subjuggalators entirely on their own. 

“That sounds like a suicide mission,” Eridan muttered from where he was seated. 

“I’m sorry to say that a few of you will perish in this fight. But I needed to have some of my biggest wildcards on the same team. Many of you are unpredictable, which is perfect for facing the Subjuggalators without losing everyone,” Emry explained. “I don’t want to lead you to the slaughter, but you all knew the risks in the beginning. You knew that some of us would die.” Nobody protested further as she finished her instructions for the invasion of the palace. 

The army, led by Tavros, would draw the most attention in the palace courtyard. That meant they would take the most casualties. Dirk felt guilty, knowing that he didn’t even know the name of a single god or goddess that would be fighting for their cause. But he knew they weren’t just nameless faces. They had families that they were fighting for as well, for a better future. He had to believe that it would be worth their sacrifice. While Emry’s team would be taking the forward path to the Condesce’s throne room, the Wildcard team would attack from the rear, where the Subjuggalators were housed. That way, they could take out as many of the highbloods as they could before the real fighting began. As this was happening, two other teams would approach from the left and right, respectively. Roxy’s team would take the tactically safer route to the left, where there were fewer guards to stand in their way. Dirk’s team would take the right, and therefore have to fight the archers, as well as a few with telepathic powers. They were banking on Mituna’s psionics being enough to overcome that. During all of this, Meenah would be waiting in the Void, courtesy of Equius’ powers. He or Roxy would bring her back once the fighting was over. They couldn’t risk her dying, as she was the only fuchsia-blood left after they killed the Condesce, and the weird hierarchy of the gods dictated that only goddesses with that color blood could lead. 

They were also banking on help from the Psiioniic himself, which Dirk saw as a shot in the dark. But Emry insisted he would be fighting alongside them, once he saw the Dolorosa and Disciple freed on his surveillance systems. Maybe he would, but Dirk was determined to fight as though he wasn’t.

* * *

That evening, the final evening before their attack, one would be hard-pressed to find a single person sitting alone in the cave. Romantic couples were together, spending their last semi-peaceful night with sweet words and stolen kisses. Siblings and hatchmates who were unpaired drew together, or in large groups of close friendships, some trembling nervously while others comforted them.  The cave was filled with hushed whispers of reassurance and fear. Nobody could blame the fearful, for there was not a single one of them who did not carry it in their heart. 

“I don’t want anyone to die,” Jade murmured as she sat beside John. Her elder brother was with Dirk, not that she could blame him. If she’d had someone special like that, she would want to spend as much time as possible with him. As it was, John needed someone to talk to and be with him, since his sister had been killed. It broke her heart to have seen it happen, and it hurt even more know more death would come. 

“I don’t either,” John whispered. Jade could see the tears in his eyes and she knew he was thinking about Jane. Feferi’s meister had been so kind. She didn’t deserve the death she received. As far as Jade was concerned, Jane deserved to die peacefully in her sleep, as a nice old lady. Or at least to go out in a really cool way, like from a meteor or something. But not like this. Not with an arrow to the skull. 

“Do you think we’ll win?” 

“I don’t think Emry would be leading this if we weren’t going to. Why would she make us fight if we were all just going to die in the end?” 

“I hate to bring it up… but what if the only reason we’re fighting is because the Condesce would have just killed us anyway.” John was silent for a long while, and Jade worried she may have said something wrong. She hadn’t wanted to doubt their cause, but that was a fear that had been nagging the back of her mind for a while now. Finally, just as Jade was about to change the subject to something a little brighter, John spoke. 

“If we were all going to die no matter what, I’d rather die fighting.” 

Jade decided she agreed with him.

* * *

Nepeta was curled up against Equius, just as all the other matesprits around the cave. Sollux glanced among them in silence, his eyes never lingering more than a few seconds. Karkat was beside him, as the God of Death never liked spending time with his hatchmate. Not even with impending doom looming overhead. Sollux was fairly certain the only time Karkat would spend any time with Kankri would be to order the elder one to kindly shut the ever loving fuck up. Not that Sollux could blame him, of course. Kankri was an obnoxious motherfucker, and Sollux wanted nothing to do with him. Fuck, he almost wished the God of Suffering hadn’t been part of their crusade in the first place. 

“Well this is dismal as fuck,” Karkat grumbled, scratching the back of his head irritably.  “Everyone thinks they’re going to die.” 

“They might,” Sollux answered somberly. 

“Where we’re at, only the eight more Em predicted have the darkest auras around them. The rest of us, we have some darkness lingering, but that comes with the territory of war. We all have the potential. Some more than others.” 

“Remind me why we made that pact in the first place.” 

“Because we wanted to give these stupid humans something better than being puppets on strings. If I’d known how much trouble it was gonna be, I wouldn’t have gone through with it when I gave Erik his power.” Sollux looked over to his best friend, though his eyes carried no expression. 

“Do you really mean that?” he asked. Karkat stared at him in stunned silence for a moment before looking pointedly away. 

“No,” he admitted. “I probably would still have done it. I’m too attached to the fucker now to think of what he’d be like otherwise. This fight’s not gonna be easy, though. The Condesce hit us with a low blow, taking out Rufioh like that. None of us will be able to fly because of it.” Rose, from where she was seated nearby with Kanaya, lifted her head at the curious notion Karkat had stated. 

“Why is that?” she inquired. 

“All gods and goddesses, outside the twelve of us that handle the central elements of the universe, have control over specific aspects. When Rufioh was culled, our ability to fly in Alternia disappeared. That’s why Aradia ran away from us when she disappeared, instead of flying.” 

“Then why is the Condesce different? Why does she have so much power over everyone else?” 

“Because she’s the Goddess of Eternal Life. She holds all the power. Once we kill her, gods will no longer be biologically immortal. We will still live for thousands of years, but we will be able to die naturally,” Kanaya explained. 

“You’re willing to give up immortality for us? Why?” Kanaya leaned in and kissed Rose before answering. 

“Because you are worth it.” Karkat and Sollux both looked to their meisters with soft expressions. Erik was off with Lucy, while Emry was talking with Dave in a quiet corner. Both had been through so much, and neither god wanted to see them perish. Both Karkat and Sollux agreed with Kanaya wholeheartedly, and they were sure the rest of the gods agreed. Their meisters were worth taking any risk for.

* * *

“I had a vision about you,” Dave stated solemnly. He’d been much more serious since Aradia’s death, Emry had noticed. She felt sorry for him, having lost his patron in such a way. His only saving grace in that instance was that he didn’t have to witness her death. Emry wasn’t sure she would be able to live with herself otherwise.

“What about?” she asked, though she had an inkling of the answer. 

“You’re going to die.” 

“I know. But you mustn’t tell Sollux. I’ve been hiding the vision he sees with an alternative where I survive.” 

“Why don’t you just make that happen? Or have Sollux make it happen if you can’t.” 

“Because my survival would cause the fabric to be unstable, and would destroy everything we know and love. And Sollux would do that if it meant not watching me die,” Emry explained calmly. She had long since come to terms with her impending death and knew it was worth the pain to save her friends. A tear fell down Dave’s cheek, which caught Emry by surprise. True, the two of them had grown fairly close since his graduation from her makeshift academy, but she would never have expected tears from him, least of all for her sake. 

“I don’t want you to die,” he admitted quietly. Emry gave him a weak smile and wrapped an arm around him. 

“I know. But that’s the price that must be paid. If I don’t, then more will. Like I told you when Aradia died, I made a promise.” 

“What promise?” 

“That you would live through this war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from "Soldier Side" by System of a Down


	12. I've Got Soul, but I'm Not a Soldier

Explosions echoed throughout the courtyard of the palace, and the surveillance video flickered before the Psiioniic’s eyes for him to find the source. He hadn’t expected to see a couple hundred various gods and goddesses amassed in the courtyard with weapons and powers at the ready. They were being led by Summoner’s descendent, the young God of Breath. The video feed flickered in and out before the background maintenance protocols rectified the matter. A red light flashed in the Psiioniic’s peripheral and he pulled up that feed to see the young meister leading a handful of rebels to the throne room. He felt only a touch of guilt as he prepared to sound the alarms and swiftly bring her life to an end. But then, another surveillance video emerged in his field of vision and he saw the Dolorosa running alongside another handful of rebels. And the Disciple with another. They had been freed. They were choosing to fight again. For the first time in thousands of years, the Psiioniic felt a glimmer of hope swell in his chest. If that meister had managed to save his friends, he thought that maybe, just maybe, she could actually defy the Condesce. If nothing else, she would raise the proper rebellion that would finally bring Her Imperious Condescension’s reign to an end. Either way, the Psiioniic found himself shorting out the circuits that restricted his control of the security system. He finally felt a modicum of power return to him for the first time in so many years. A twisted smirk pulled at his long unused lips. 

“Fuck yes.”

* * *

“I’m surprised there haven’t been any drones coming after us,” Dave commented as his team ran through the corridors. They had run into a handful of guards, but nothing they couldn’t make short work of. 

“It’s because we saved the Disciple and my ancestor,” Porrim answered. “Emry was right in making that deal with the Psiioniic.” 

“That pact will not protect us for long. Be ready for a proper fight,” Equius warned. While the archers were not located in this hall, there was a good chance of them encountering wandering riflemen or other highbloods with a thirst for violence. He was caught by surprise when a juggling pin was suddenly thrown at him, and barely managed to duck out of the way in time. The team of eight stared in horror at the adversary before them. They hadn’t expected to run into any Subjuggalators on this path, least of all the Grand Highblood himself. The God of Slaughter was a force to be reckoned with, and not one that any of them had wished to face. 

“W-What do we do?” Luke asked shakily, holding tightly onto the iron staff he used as a melee weapon. 

“We fight,” Nepeta answered, followed by a feral snarl as she lunged forward, claws positioned for attack.

* * *

On the other side of the palace, Dirk and his team were struggling to fend off the arrows that were being aimed at them from above. The Condesce’s blue-blood archers were resolved to show no mercy, and so the rebels would have to fight harder to ensure their survival. Mituna screamed out in pain as a highblood with mind control powers stepped into view, and it quickly became apparent that he was trying to keep her out of his head. From the smirk on her lips, Dirk could only assume he was failing. 

“Leave him alone!” Latula yelled, but was stopped by Kurloz before she could rush an attack on the mind controller. The god with his mouth sewed shut looked to Lucy and pointed at Mituna before turning his attention to the colbalt-blood goddess that stood before them. While all of this was taking place, arrows still rained from above. John was the one primarily handling them by blowing them away with his control over the wind. Lucy ran to Mituna’s side and carefully placed her fingertips on his temples. A faint purple light was emitted from her hands as she reduced the levels of insanity that their enemy had caused. Kurloz’s eyes suddenly began glowing with a horrifying dark purple color as the mind-control goddess began writhing grotesquely. Her agonizing screams echoed through the corridors, until they finally came to a sudden, terror-inducing halt. 

“What did you _do_ , Kurloz?” Kanaya asked nervously while her ancestor gave the God of Destruction a hard stare. 

“He destroyed her mind and killed her,” Lucy answered as she pulled away from Mituna, who was now standing on his own. Kurloz shrugged his shoulders with an eerie smile as attention was suddenly turned to John when he took solid form again. 

“There’re too many archers to defend from here,” he yelled. “We have to get somewhere safer!” An arrow zipped past his head, missing him by mere inches, and made a solid connection into the chest of the god behind him. Kurloz slumped to his knees, his purple blood already beginning to pool on the lush carpet beneath him. He clutched at the arrow that now protruded from his heart, and everyone knew it was only a matter of minutes before he was dead. 

Mituna unleashed a horrible screech at the sight of his best friend dying, and psionic energy sparked around his eyes and horns menacingly. Webs of light, not unlike lightning, expanded wildly from the god’s head, striking down many archers in the process. 

“What does he think he’s doing?” John asked as he struggled to avoid the psionic energy that was flying around them all. “He’s going to kill one of us!” 

“You guys go ahead!” Latula ordered as she drew her blade. “I’ll stay behind with Mitz.” 

“We can’t leave you behind here!” Lucy protested. 

“There’s more coming! If you don’t leave, you’ll die too! Mituna’s expending all of his energy, and it _will_ kill him. I swore to be by his side until the day he dies. That’s how a matespritship _works_. We’ll take out as many as we can, but you have to go forward with Emry’s plan. It won’t work without you!” 

“She’s right,” the Dolorosa stated somberly. “We must depart now if we wish to survive.” Without allowing for more arguments, she ushered the remaining members of their team further down the hall, only stopping for a moment to cast a glance at the matesprits she was leaving behind. They reminded her so much of her son and the Disciple so many years ago, and she shed a tear for them.

* * *

“How could this happen already?” Erik asked of his patron in a low murmur. Karkat tightened his grip on his sickles, but didn’t answer. He already knew that they had lost friends in the battle already. By his count, two were already gone, and a third was well on her way. Another two would come shortly, if events played out the way Emry had told him. 

“We all knew the risks. Keep moving,” he ordered his meister. Spherical drones flew over their heads, providing extra sets of eyes for their squad as they made their way through the palace. The Psiioniic was providing aid from his place within his holding room, and would likely be punished the moment the Condesce learned of his betrayal to her. That meant Emry’s team had a very short amount of time to find and destroy her before their ally was killed. Beams of energy shot from the drones around her, killing guards that stood in their way as they ran through the corridors. 

“Vriska, have you found the right path yet?” Emry asked, readjusting her grip on her scythe after slicing through another god in her path. His olive blood dripped from the blade. 

“Do you have any idea how many corridors this place has?” the Goddess of Luck retorted harshly. “Turn left!”

* * *

In the rear of the palace, nothing short of an all-out war was being waged between the Subjuggalators and the team dubbed the Wild Cards. While the Condesce’s highest ranking executioners were swinging their juggling pins wildly, the rebels could barely keep themselves out of harm’s way. Horuss’ numerous robotic weapons flew through the air, launching electrically based attacks on the highbloods. Few of the weapons had survived the first round of pins that had struck them. Damara, Gamzee and the Disciple were the few best suited for this battle, simply because they were the most unpredictable of their group. The Goddess of the Hunt put her claws to good use as she took out no fewer than three Subjuggalators in the brief time since the skirmish had begun. 

“I-I can’t fight them!” Aranea yelled in a panic. “My mind control won’t work on them!” A pin suddenly struck her head and she was sent flying into the nearest wall. Cronus called her name and hurried to her side, while Gamzee wasted no time in taking down the goddess’ attacker. 

“It’s because they don’t have a mind, besides the one given to them by their ruler,” the Disciple answered with a feral growl. Cobalt blood flowed over Cronus’ hands as he tried to staunch the wound Aranea had received. Her gray skin grew paler as he realized she hadn’t moved since being struck. The Goddess of Self was limp, and her head was hanging unnaturally towards her chest. Her neck had been snapped upon impact. 

“Get up and fight, Cro!” Eridan ordered, punctuated by another shot firing from his rifle. With hands still trembling from seeing his friend brutally murdered, Cronus rose to his feet and stared down the Subjuggalators that remained. He wasn’t sure how much use he would be in this battle against merciless executioners, but he was determined to take down as many of them as he could or perish trying.

* * *

Erik frowned as the new sensation pierced his mind. He turned to his younger sister with a solemn expression. 

“Cronus is dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "All These Things That I've Done" by The Killers


	13. Gonna Hide My Wings Tonight

Roxy was on the ground, barely conscious from the fighting she’d done alongside her companions. Her vision was hazy and she feared it wouldn’t be long before she completely blacked out. She tried shaking her head; doing anything to keep herself awake. If she lost it now, she would surely die. That couldn’t happen. The rumbling laughter above her left Roxy utterly terrified. The Grand Highblood raised his pin, and she knew her death would soon be upon her. That didn’t stop the tears from falling from her eyes as the bludgeoning weapon came down upon her. Before it could make contact, a shadow fell over Roxy and she realized her patron had stepped in the way and was holding back the juggling pin with his bare hands. 

“You will not harm her,” Equius stated darkly, even as his arms trembled under the weight of the Subjuggalator’s force. Roxy was quickly pulled away from the skirmish by Kankri. 

“Stay back,” he whispered, even as Roxy struggled feebly against him. “Let your moirail handle this.”  As Equius squared off against the Grand Highblood on his own, the rest of their team struggled against the riflemen that had amassed in the corridor. Jade and Dave were making relatively quick work of them with their combined powers over time and space, but doing so took a lot of energy. Energy that they were quickly running low on. 

“I dunno how much longer I can keep this up,” Jade murmured, stumbling in her attempt to back away from the oncoming attacks. 

“We’ve got this, Jade,” Dave answered, though he sounded just as winded. “They don’t stand a chance against a couple of cool kids like us.” With the tiniest bit of renewed morale, Jade set her focus on shrinking the weapons of their opponents while clones of Dave leapt around and sliced through the enemy gods. 

“Equius, don’t!” Roxy screamed, and in her mind everything around them seemed to slow to a halt. 

Her patron, her _moirail_ was wrapped up by the throat in the string of his own bow and arrow that he’d never quite managed to operate correctly. Holding the broken wooden ends was the Grand Highblood with a disgusting grin across his face. He pulled the cord tighter and tighter around Equius’ throat until the God of Void finally stopped struggling and fell limply to the ground. Kankri held Roxy back as she screamed and cried out for Equius. From the middle of the fray with riflemen, Nepeta bounded down the corridor with her claws poised for attack and olive-colored tears streaming down her cheeks. 

“Get Roxy out of here!” Luke ordered, seeing very quickly how the ensuing battle would end. “Take Dave and Jade with you!” 

“What about you?” Porrim asked. 

“I’ll follow behind once I take care of business here.” 

“That’s suicide.” 

“Meet my patron and then tell me that. Now go!” Kankri lifted Roxy over his shoulder with a murmured apology while Porrim strong-armed her way into taking Jade and Dave with her past their enemies. Oddly enough, none of them were being fired at. Porrim looked over her shoulder and saw the symbol for Mind in place of Luke’s pupils. He was controlling all of the riflemen while Nepeta was slashing at the Grand Highblood. The Goddess of Equality noted how powerful he was to pull off such a feat. 

Nepeta’s movements were wild and very near feral as she attacked the Grand Highblood. With every slash she made, she took a portion of his soul from his body. Luke worked at aiming all of the rifles at the head Subjuggalator, though the process was slower than he would have liked. A few of their enemies had a stronger resolve than others, making them harder to control. Equius’ body still lay motionless on the floor, and Luke was determined to ensure his sacrifice would not be in vain. His concentration wavered when he saw the Grand Highblood’s pin swing dangerously close to Nepeta’s head. One of the violet-bloods broke free and fired his rifle, though the shot missed the Goddess of Heart by mere inches. 

“Keep them at bay,” Nepeta commanded, to which Luke nodded. “I want to kill him myself.” Before she could make another swipe with her claws, the Grand Highblood’s juggling pin swung suddenly and cracked into her skull. He struck her a second time, then a third, and then a fourth for good measure. Luke’s face contorted in horror as he watched. 

“Kill him!” he screeched at the riflemen under his control. “Kill the Grand Highblood!” Every gun pointed at the purple-blooded monstrosity before him and they all fired at once. The Grand Highblood was quickly littered with holes from the shots, but he still stood. Luke’s eyes widened slowly as he realized his opponent wouldn’t be so easy to kill. The riflemen fired once again, though this time at each other at the behest of their puppeteer. Luke would need all of his remaining focus to take out the Grand Highblood. As the violet-bloods fell, Luke turned his attention to the leading executioner, a dark shadow falling over his features. The God of Slaughter’s mental defenses were next to nonexistent, though what occurred in his mind was enough to make Luke feel ill. The meister quickly grabbed control of the god’s mind in order to force him to do his bidding. He silently thanked Terezi for her training, and apologized to Emry for having to resort to such means. “I want you to bludgeon yourself to death.”

* * *

“Nepeta’s gone too,” Karkat muttered. “That makes eleven.” He looked to Emry and saw very clearly the dark aura that surrounded her. It gave him an empty feeling in his stomach. 

“And Luke took out the Grand Highblood on his own,” Erik added, hoping to take the conversation away from the question he feared. Terezi chuckled from behind him. 

“Just like I taught him,” she said with a devilish grin. 

“So if only one more person is gonna die, does that mean they’re from our group?” Vriska asked. “I mean, we haven’t come across much more than a few grunts. And your inside guy has been taking care of a lot of the security system.” The group turned the final corner of the palace and found themselves standing before the large doors leading to the throne room. If the Condesce wasn’t in there, then she soon would be. Emry had seen how it would all play out, and it would end here. 

“There’s no guarantee,” she answered, gripping her scythe tightly in her hands. “So be on guard and don’t take any unnecessary risks.” Karkat and Erik exchanged glances, during which Karkat gave a pointed look that Erik took to mean ‘don’t interfere’. Yeah, fuck that, he decided. If he could take a single opportunity to ensure the life of his younger sister, he was going to take it. Fate be damned.

Emry pushed on the doors to the throne room and they slowly opened to reveal the fuchsia color scheme that the Condesce had come to be known for. Seated on the throne, as though she fully expected them to appear, was Her Imperious Condescension herself. At her right hand was the Psiioniic, beaten and bloodied, but still visibly alive. His defiant sneer deepened when Emry’s team appeared with his drones in tow. The Condesce frowned at the sight, having thought she’d eliminated all of his little toys. Sollux appeared visibly shaken at the sight of his ancestor, a god he hadn’t seen since he was still in his larval stages of life. It was jarring to see him in this state.

“What shall we do with our guests, my Helmsman?” the Condesce asked, appearing as though she wasn’t even fazed by the intruders. Emry knew otherwise. Her highest ranking troops had been taken out, and even her head executioner was dead. “How shall I make them entertain us?”

“By killing you,” the Psiioniic retorted, punctuating his words by spitting his blood at the Condesce. She snapped her fingers and Emry felt rage flow through her veins as she watched the God of Energy writhe from the electrical current being used to punish him. He’d finally found his voice, and the Condesce was trying to silence him once again. It was with that thought that Emry lunged forward into battle, leaving her friends with little option but to follow her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title comes from "Angel With a Shotgun" by The Cab


	14. This is How an Angel Dies

“Don’t be stupid!” Erik shouted to his younger sister as he swung a hatchet at the nearest enemy. The Condesce had had a fair number of highblooded gods and goddesses lying in wait to attack the moment Emry had lunged forward. They came out in droves and had barely left the rebel team with any time to counter. As it was, the Condesce was still seated on her throne, watching the brawl with a look of amusement on her face while the rebels fought off her warriors. She was mildly surprised that they had lasted this long, though she was sure their luck wouldn’t hold out for long, even with the Goddess of Light on their side. 

Karkat’s sickles marked death for each god his weapon pierced, while Sollux’s psionic powers came in especially handy against those out of his physical reach. He was still shaken from the state his ancestor was in, but had forced the feeling away for the time being. His priority was making sure the Condesce was taken down as quickly as possible. The sooner she was gone, the sooner they could all go on living peaceful lives. He would deal with his ancestor later. Sollux hadn’t even realized his meister had abandoned the fray until he heard her let out a war cry from across the throne room. Sollux’s gaze immediately flew to where he heard her, and he saw Emry swing her scythe at the Condesce. The goddess queen deftly avoided the attack, though she now wore a deep frown on her lips. 

“Didn’t you learn last time, gill?” she demanded and both the Psiioniic and Emry began writhing in pain. It quickly became clear that the Condesce was mentally controlling the Psiioniic to electrocute Emry. Apparently she didn’t believe the meister to be worth her own efforts. Before Sollux could react, Erik was already at his sister’s side with a hatchet being thrown at the Psiioniic. He was surprised when Emry fought against her obvious pain to stop the weapon from flying. 

“No,” she gasped. “I won’t let him die.” 

“He’s trying to kill you!” Erik spat. 

“Because of _her_. Kill her, not the Psiioniic. Terezi, break the mind control!” 

“On it!” the goddess answered, her mind already deftly working to save the Psiioniic’s even as she continued to slice through the highbloods that were surrounding her. It was in that moment that what remained of their rebellion converged on the throne room to join the fight. Many of them were worn and ragged, and they were still struck by the losses their teams had taken. But all of them were ready to end this here and now. Karkat was barking orders the moment they entered. The gist of it amounted to killing the highbloods and keeping the Psiioniic alive, although Emry rather liked the phrase ‘ripe some souls out’ as it was said to Dirk. 

As Emry was finally freed from her electrical torture, she could see the uneasiness creeping into the Condesce’s face. The meister wasted no time in launching another attack. Her scythe twirled wildly around her as she backed the goddess queen farther away from the Psiioniic. Emry paid little heed to the way her wrists were aching from the sudden change in tempo. She tapped into her own powers as a meister and saw the fate that had been predetermined for the Condesce by Erik’s assertion what seemed like an eternity ago. The Condesce would die, and Emry decided exactly how. It would be fitting. Her eyes returned to their normal state and she grinned devilishly. 

“What’s the matter, Your Highness?” she sneered. “Finally afraid of us? Finally seeing what we’re capable of?” She swung her scythe again, only for the Condesce to leap away and the blade to lodge itself into the tile. It was hopelessly stuck and Emry swore under her breath. This fight just got a lot harder.

* * *

Dirk had been surprised at the utter lack of his patron, as well as Roxy’s. He’d only briefly gotten the chance to ask her what happened, though her tear-stained face told him everything he really needed to know. Equius was dead, and so was Nepeta. Two more casualties in a war that should have never been taken place. If only the Condesce hadn’t decided to cross them, then this would all have been avoided. Now, Dirk stood back to back with Jake while the two of them took out highbloods left and right. 

“I’m sorry about Nepeta,” Jake said in between firing his pistols. 

“I’ll deal with it later,” Dirk answered. “You’re gonna need to help Emry.” 

“I’m not quite sure how, at the moment. We’re surrounded.” 

“Use your powers, Jake. You’re a goddamn miracle worker. Literally. Make a miracle to help Emry take out the Batter Witch.” 

“Batter Witch?” 

“I thought it fit.” Dirk flashstepped and ripped his katana through another three enemies before rejoining his boyfriend’s side. “Just figure something out.” 

“I can’t!” 

“Will you stop doubting yourself for one fucking minute and just use your powers like you were meant to? You’re incredible and all of us know it. Emry knows it, I know it. Everyone. Just do your thing and make a goddamn miracle. If you need to concentrate, I’ll make sure you can.” Across the way, he could see Roxy unleashing hell with a BFG that had no right to exist. Maybe it hadn’t, until she’d grabbed it from the Void. That was entirely possible. Dirk made a note to have her help keep Jake safe if he needed to stop fighting to focus on his miracle. 

Jake was at a loss. He really was. All he could think of as he fired shot after shot at the highblooded gods was that he was the last person who should have been given the aspect of Hope. He had absolutely no faith in his own abilities. All he’d done in the past was help Emry heal. That was hardly anything spectacular. And the shot he’d fired at Dualscar had been based more on luck than his power level. Even still, Dirk and Emry insisted he was something special. Insisted he was far more powerful than he gave himself credit for. He just couldn’t believe that. But he knew he couldn’t let Emry down. After all they had been through, he couldn’t let her fall because of his own shortcomings. He would do everything in his power to allow her to win this fight. 

“I’ll think of something,” he answered Dirk resolutely.

* * *

In the short time that had passed since Emry had lost her scythe, she had been bloodied by trident piercings that she’d barely managed to escape. Erik was at her side, helping her fight against the Condesce, but he was injured as well. They were exhausted and none of their other companions could come to their aid. They were all too busy with the highbloods that kept pouring in. Damn the Condesce and her armies. They would need a miracle if they wanted to defeat her. The goddess queen’s confidence had received a boost in seeing the way the two meisters before her were faltering. She knew it would only be a matter of time before they were done. But she wasn’t in any mood to toy with them. She was going for blood. 

“I’ll mount your heads for all to see what happens when they defy me,” she hissed and lashed out with her dual-tipped trident. Its points narrowly missed both meisters as they leapt back. 

“You’ll never get the chance,” Erik answered darkly. His hatchet crossed with her weapon, giving Emry the chance to leap in with a simple dagger in her hands. The blade dug deeply into the Condesce’s shoulder before the goddess reared back. She released her trident and used her bare hand to strike the female meister before her. 

Erik hadn’t expected to see the goddess’s hand on the other side of his sister. 

As the Condesce ripped her hand free of Emry’s body, Erik unleashed an agonized scream that brought much of the fighting to a grinding halt. All eyes turned to Her Imperious Condescension and the meister who had fallen to the ground. A pool of blood was quickly forming around Emry’s paling body. She trembled and sputtered from the shock of it all, while her friends could only watch on in stunned silence. Sollux fell to his knees as ochre tears prickled around the corners of his eyes. The Condesce laughed, relishing in her victory. Surely with their leader dead, the rest would fall shortly after. 

“I’m… sorry,” Emry whispered weakly as Erik knelt beside her, clutching her hand tightly in his. 

“You’re gonna be okay, Em,” he insisted, tears flowing freely from his eyes. “I’ll make you okay.” In the back of his mind, Karkat’s incessant words echoed. 

_We don’t get to decide who lives._  

Those words haunted him as he stared at his sister. A smile spread across her bloodied lips as the light faded from her eyes and he was left holding the hand of a corpse. A horrific screech suddenly resonated from the middle of the throne room, and all eyes turned to the god who was now hovering in the air. Psionic energy flickered around him like lightning bolts that struck down every enemy they came in contact with. Sollux glowed with blue and red energy as he blindly flew towards Emry. Upon landing, he gathered her in his arms with little regard to Erik and screeched once again. The wave of energy he unleashed hit the Condesce with a force she’d never felt before. And would never feel again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from "Sail" by AWOLNation


	15. How Did We Get Here?

There was silence in the living room of Erik’s home. That was where all of the remaining gods and meisters had reconvened after their victory over the Condesce. The only one missing was Meenah. After Roxy had retrieved her from the Void, the Goddess of Rebirth had immediately set to work on rebuilding the structure in Alternia. With the Condesce dead and gone, there would be a lot for Meenah to work on. Freeing the Psiioniic had been at the top of her list, as well as a complete revamp of the class structure of the gods. That would take longer. The silence in the living room was broken only by the sniffling as the victors mourned the loss of their dear friends and comrades. 

“I guess I couldn’t give her that miracle,” Jake murmured, earning a hard stare from Dirk. 

“You did your best. Don’t fault yourself for that,” he answered. 

“We should do something for them,” Roxy whispered through her tears. Erik hadn’t spoken since their victory. All the humans suddenly looked like children again in the eyes of the gods. Hell, they _were_ just children. 

“A memorial service would be good,” John offered.

“The whole fucking world should know what they’ve done,” Dirk muttered with a scowl, his arm around Dave’s shoulders. 

“No one would understand,” Karkat answered. “Most humans don’t even know we exist.” 

“Then at least do it in your realm!” Jade blurted, tears falling from his eyes. “Em was our best friend. Some of us lost our patrons, and other good friends. They deserve to be known by all the gods in Alternia.” 

“I think Meenah is already working on something like that,” Porrim answered. “She’ll make sure they are all honored.” 

“It’s not enough,” Erik stated, speaking for the first time since the death of his sister. “But it’s a start.” 

“Have you told your parents what happened?” Karkat asked him. 

“As much as I could. They understand that she died saving everyone. Just not why she’d let that be her fate. Can’t say I blame them.” 

“How are you holding up?” 

“About as well as Captor.” Now all eyes turned to the God of Fate, who had remained silent through all of this. 

“Sollux,” Kankri began. 

“Don’t fucking talk to me, Vantas,” Sollux snapped. “If you hadn’t lived, she wouldn’t have suffered.” 

“And if Karkat had died, many would have lived.” 

“That’s not how it works, asshole. KK brings them where they’re meant to go. _You_ bring them pain and fear.” 

“Don’t argue. Not today,” Kanaya said tiredly as she rubbed her temples. “Have some respect for those we’ve lost.” Silence fell over the group once again. 

“John’s right about the memorial service,” Dave said after a moment. “It would be something for them.”

* * *

Karkat found Sollux sitting alone on the front porch hours after the rest of their friends had left. At this point, only Sollux, Karkat, Luke and Erik had remained. They had been the four with the closest connection to Emry, and seemed to draw some strength from each other. Even still, Sollux had isolated himself. He couldn’t bear to look at Erik, knowing that the meister’s sister had died because of his lack of forethought. How could he have not known? How could he have seen a future where Emry survived if it wasn’t actually her fate? He could still remember what it had been like when he’d come out of his blackout. Sollux had been clutching Emry’s lifeless form tightly in his arms, and the Condesce was dead. His meister’s blood had started soaking into his own clothing and her eyes were still open, green irises unfocused on the world around them. That had been when he’d finally broken down and fallen into an inconsolable sobbing fit. It had been a long time before Sollux had finally released Emry’s body. 

“What are you doing out here?” Karkat asked his best friend, taking a seat beside him on the porch. 

“Avoiding your meister,” Sollux muttered in response. He didn’t have the heart for banter. “I thought EH was going to live.” 

“She fooled you. I heard Dave talking earlier. Emry manipulated the visions you got to see. And since you didn’t want to see anything else, you didn’t. He saw the future because of his Time aspect and she never bothered to force his visions to change. Terezi read her mind and knew about it. Erik and I both saw it in the aura around her.” 

“Doesn’t look like knowing helped him.” 

“Of course not. She was his fucking sister.” 

“And she was my moirail!” Sollux snapped. Karkat didn’t judge the stray ochre tears he saw. 

“She knew what the knowledge would do to you,” he answered. “She didn’t want you to grieve her before she was even gone. Her job was the keep you stable. That’s why we have moirails in the first place. The only way Emry could do that was by hiding the truth from you.” 

“And what the fuck am I going to do now?! My moirail is dead! Where’s the stability in that?!” 

“I hate to say it, but-” 

“Then don’t. Because it’s not going to happen.” 

“You’re going to need a new moirail at some point. Meister or not, you’re gonna need someone, fuckass.” 

“Fuck off, KK.”

* * *

Within the house, Luke and Erik were sitting silently on the couch. Neither of them had said much since Emry’s death. They both sat unashamed of the tearstains on their cheeks, but faces buried in calloused hands. Erik had known all along that his sister would perish, much as he’d tried to fight it. Luke had been ignorant of it. Terezi had known from reading Emry’s mind, but Luke never thought to do so. He had never in his life read Emry’s mind. It was an invasion of privacy as far as he was concerned. If there were anything Emry had wanted him to know, she would tell him. The one time there was something important that she hadn’t told him, it was at the cost of her life. 

“We lost too many,” Luke murmured. Erik hummed in agreement. “We lost a third of our group.” 

“You should have seen what it was. There were dark auras around us all,” Erik answered. “We were all going to die, and she saved us all.” His voice broke, but he didn’t care. Luke wasn’t going to judge him. 

“Why did she have to let herself die?” 

“Who was she going to let die in her place? She wouldn’t choose, and you know it.” 

“I would have taken her place.” 

“You know she’d never let that happen. Em was too good to let that happen to you.” 

“How was I supposed to die?” Erik shrugged his shoulders. 

“I don’t get to see the how it would have happened. That was Emry. Sollux could probably tell you, but do you really want to know?” Luke shook his head after a moment. No, he realized. He really didn’t want to know. It wouldn’t change anything. Emry was still dead. So was Jane, and Feferi, and Nepeta, and Equius, and all of the rest. Nothing was going to bring them back, no matter how much he wished for it to be so. Meenah couldn’t even bring them back to life. As Goddess of Rebirth, she could only reincarnate them. It wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be _them_.

* * *

After both Sollux and Luke left, Erik turned to his patron. He’d asked a favor of Karkat after the battle, a favor that only the God of Death could follow through with. In the time between their victory and group mourning in Erik’s living room, Karkat had slipped away to enter the afterlife. He was supposed to guide those who died to whichever area of the afterlife they were meant to go to. Normally he would have a kind of astral projection handle the massive influx, but the twelve they lost were close personal friends. He’d take them himself. 

“Is she okay?” Erik asked of his patron. Karkat sighed heavily as he flopped onto the couch. It was a fucking long day. He wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take. 

“As okay as a dead person can be,” he muttered. 

“Did she get to choose?” 

“Of course she did. She didn’t go straight to Hell. You know she wouldn’t.” 

“I know. So what did she decide?” 

“She wanted to be reincarnated, and keep taking care of Captor.” Erik grunted in acknowledgement. Of course she would have. Emry was so deeply attached to her patron. They may have stuck to the title of moirail, but Erik knew there were deeper emotions tying them together. “I told her to go back to sleep.” Now Erik stared at his patron with a confused expression. 

“I thought sleeping was how a person gets to the afterlife,” he asserted. 

“It is. I lied to her and told her it was how she’d get queued up for reincarnation.” 

“Why?” 

“You made me promise she wouldn’t feel pain. Now she will never have to again.” 

“… Thank you.” Karkat nodded silently and closed his eyes. The whole ordeal had been a tough one. Some of his friends had wanted to move on, while others wanted to come back in another form. Most of the gods and goddesses that died chose to go to the afterlife. They figured they’d lived long enough. Jane was going to come back eventually. She’d never know of her previous life, but she was going to be walking the Earth sooner or later. The only thing that mattered to Karkat was knowing his friends would find peace in one form or another. He opened one eye and glanced at his meister. The faint dark aura of mortality hovered around him, but Karkat could tell the young man still had many years left in him. Good, he thought. He couldn’t take losing someone else so soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from "Halloween" from RENT.


	16. When Does the Healing Come?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help but update the final chapter on 4/13/14. The timing worked out too well for me not to. lol. I hope you enjoy the epilogue.

Decades had passed since the fall of Her Imperious Condescension. In that time, Sollux had outright refused to take another moirail. New gods and goddesses had taken the place of his fallen friends, though they were so much younger. He and his friends had remained close, along with the meisters that had survived the battle. Jane and Emry had been the only two to perish. Sollux watched on as the meisters grew older and started families of their own. Rose and Kanaya had continued their matespritship until the meister had finally passed away from age. Kanaya had been heartbroken, and still was. She’d taken a new moirail, but it was clear that she would likely never have another matesprit. Dirk and Jake had remained together for a short while after the battle, but eventually broke off the relationship. The two had remained close friends afterwards and, after the awkwardness of it all wore off, were often seen hanging around each other. Jake had eventually gotten over his self-doubt, which Sollux knew Emry would have been proud of. Erik and Lucy had eventually gotten married and had a couple of kids together, one of which ended up becoming the medium for the new Goddess of Life. Sollux couldn’t be bothered to remember her name. She wasn’t Feferi. The kid’s name was Sara. He would always remember that one. 

Dave had gone on to be a famous author of a webcomic. He based a lot of it off of their war, though there were obvious embellishments. It was apparent that he had always wanted his fallen friends to be known by the world, and now they would even if they didn’t believe the story to be true. Jade had gone on to be a world-renowned scientist, while Roxy and Luke had both gone into the humanities. The two of them couldn’t _not_ help people for the entirety of their lives. Sollux watched them all grow older and live their lives to the fullest. Not a single meister wasted the life that had been given to them after the fall of the Condesce. Now, all of them had passed away and the central Gods and Goddesses were keeping their hands full with the new wave of mediums. A few of them had made new sets of meisters, but the majority had refrained. Sollux had kept away from the human infants entirely, determined to never make another medium or meister again. He couldn’t replace Emry. 

He had been surprised when Meenah had contacted him out of the blue. The two of them had never been particularly close, and she was busy handling business in Alternia. For her to leave the god realm was highly unusual prior to her becoming the Empress. Now, it was almost unheard of. And yet, she had chosen to meet with Sollux. He had been irritated when she brought him to a human hospital, and tried to walk away. Needless to say, Meenah was very convincing. 

Sollux stared at the human infant in the nursery room. Beside him, much to his ongoing surprise and chagrin, was Meenah. The infant she had directed him to was a baby girl with very light hair. Sollux didn’t know what color her eyes were. 

“Why did you bring me here?” he asked somberly. “I told you I wasn’t going to take another moirail.” 

“It’s been a hundred years,” Meenah began. Had it been that long already? The wound was still fresh. 

“And I’m not going to replace her.” Meenah looked down at the infant and sighed heavily.  With a gentle hand, she brushed at the pale blond hair on the child’s head. 

“I’m technically not supposed to tell you this, but fuck it. I’m the Empress. That baby _is_ her.” Sollux stared between Meenah and the baby girl for a couple of minutes. “I know it’s not the same, but you need a moirail. And her soul belongs with you. It feels at home with you. Karcrab told me she wouldn’t stop screaming in the afterlife until she was put into the reincarnation queue. I bumped her up for you. This one won’t remember anything, nor will she ever. Tell her all the stories you want, but don’t expect Emry to come back. Nora is your medium now. You can make her a meister if you want.” 

Meenah turned to leave as Sollux allowed the infant to grasp his index finger. He knew he would never make another meister as long as he lived. Emry was too special for him to try to make a copy. But maybe, he thought, taking her reincarnation as his medium again could help mend the hole that had been left. Only one way to find out. Before he could second-guess himself, Sollux began tapping into his power to give Nora the gift of vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "When Will the Healing Come?" by Caleb Crino


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